Orlando Sentinel Article
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PAN AM EXPANSION COULD BE SANFORD'S BOON ; THE CITY'S AIRPORT IS EXPECTED TO BENEFIT FROM FLIGHTS TO LATIN AMERICA AS WELL AS A NEW INTRASTATE SERVICE.
Orlando Sentinel; Orlando, Fla.; Mar 7, 2002; Robert Perez, Sentinel Staff Writer;
Abstract:
The new in-state service, operated under Pan Am-owned Boston- Maine Airlines, will begin service from Sanford on April 28, [Ray Wise] said. Initially, the airline will offer an undetermined number of flights to Naples and St. Petersburg, which Pan Am currently serves. Pan Am eventually wants to expand to Marathon in the Florida Keys, Miami and Tallahassee, Wise said.
Full Text:
(Copyright 2002 by The Orlando Sentinel)
Gary Taylor of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Robert Perez can be reached at 407-322-1298 or
rperez@orlandosentinel.com.
SANFORD -- Pan American Airways is laying the groundwork for a major expansion into Latin America and the Caribbean, and Orlando Sanford International Airport could be a major beneficiary.
A recent purchase of 24 Boeing 727-200s will allow Pan Am to create a separate airline that could begin service to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas within months, company officials said Wednesday.
"The entire company thrust will be changed, and Sanford will be the focal point," said Dave Fink, Pan Am's president.
In addition to becoming the domestic connection to the new Latin American carrier, Sanford will see an expansion of Pan Am's reservation center and serve as the maintenance hub for new, intrastate air service set to begin at the end of April, Fink said.
Before the end of the year, Pan Am also plans to establish a flight-simulation center in Sanford for pilots who fly the airline's Boeing 727s.
Pan Am, which bought the 24 planes from United Airlines in February, plans to dismantle nine of them for parts, many of which will be stored at the airline's Sanford maintenance facility, said Ray Wise, vice president of aviation marketing.
The remaining aircraft will become the genesis of Pan Am's new airline. Pan Am's purchase agreement with United -- the financial terms were not disclosed -- prohibits it from using the aircraft in the continental United States, Fink said.
Fink said he met with Dominican Republic President Hipolito Mejia on Tuesday to arrange commercial flights into that country.
"We look at South America and the Caribbean as a growth area," Fink said. "We met with the president and he was so excited and refreshing, it gave us a real spark."
The expansion is expected to double the airline's Sanford reservation center from 20 to 40 employees.
The flight-simulation center will be made possible by Pan Am's purchase of four simulators from United. Those simulators will be moved from United facilities in Colorado, Pan Am Vice President John Nadolny said. Part of the airline's plan is to offer the training facility to other airlines that operate 727s, he said.
"We're certainly looking at training pilots from foreign airlines, as well," he said.
The new in-state service, operated under Pan Am-owned Boston- Maine Airlines, will begin service from Sanford on April 28, Wise said. Initially, the airline will offer an undetermined number of flights to Naples and St. Petersburg, which Pan Am currently serves. Pan Am eventually wants to expand to Marathon in the Florida Keys, Miami and Tallahassee, Wise said.
An airline-industry analyst said Pan Am's ventures into intrastate service and Latin America is risky.
"Sanford cannot be made into a very popular intrastate location," said Stuart Klaskin, of Klaskin, Kushner & Co. in Miami.
Sanford works well for foreign travelers, but there is a big difference between someone flying from London to Florida and landing in Sanford and flying from Miami to Orlando and landing in Sanford, Klaskin said.
"It just doesn't work," he said.
Another possible pitfall is that most viable Florida markets already are well-served, Klaskin said.
"There's not a lot of really lucrative, really well-developable markets," he said.
Among the airlines he mentioned as serving the intrastate needs are Southwest, Comair, Continental Express and US Airways.
But Fink brushed aside such criticism.
"There is no service to Naples right now," he said. "And both the state speaker [of the House] and the president of the Senate have been pressuring the dickens out of me to provide service to your fine capital."
Klaskin also said a "vast majority" of lucrative markets in Latin America are overserved.
"Generally, it can be said the folks at Pan Am have not done a very good job of doing the things they have set out to do so far," he said.
Fink said he's heard it all before.
Since acquiring the bankrupt airline in 1998, New Hampshire-based Guilford Transportation Industries has methodically expanded Pan Am, working mostly out of smaller suburban airports, such as Orlando Sanford International.
It currently provides service from there to its home base of Portsmouth, N.H., and Bangor, Maine; Worcester, Mass.; Baltimore; Allentown, Pa.; Gary, Ind.; Sanford; St. Petersburg; and San Juan. It hopes to add Freeport and Grand Bahamas in the Bahamas and Naples before the end of April.
