Is Pan Am flying again? Here’s how you can relive the iconic airline’s golden era

The spirit of Pan Am lives on.

For passengers eager to relive the days of flying the iconic airline, a charter company will re-create two early routes of the now long-gone carrier. They’ll have a chance to time-travel, experiencing air travel before the days of cramped seats and a bag of snacks.

Two trips open to the public are being organized now to fly next year. The planes will even feature the iconic blue and white logo on the tail.

They will fly the southern and northern transatlantic routes pioneered by Pan American World Airways. The journey will seek to bring back the first-class experience on Pan Am, including free champagne and caviar.

Flight plans

Guests on one trip will depart New York City on June 15, 2025, to Europe and return on July 27. They’ll travel on a Boeing 757 configured with all business-class lie-flat seating. Capacity is limited to 50.

An initial sold-out trip, also with a capacity of 50, will start in New York City on June 27, 2025, and passengers return July 8.

The cost for each trip is a hefty $59,950 per person based on twin occupancy, or $65,500 for single occupancy, including hotel stays and meals. The duration of each is 12 days.

The organizers of both trips are United Kingdom-based Bartelings, a company specializing in high-end private aircraft world trips; Criterion Travel, a tour planner and operator; and the Pan Am Museum Foundation. Reservations are sill open for one of the trips.

Craig Carter, who owns the brand and naming rights to Pan American World Airways, is licensing to the organizers for the two excursions.

An iconic airline with rocky finances

Pan Am filed for bankruptcy protection in January 1991 and subsequently tried to reorganize and survive. That included moving its hub to Miami to mainly serve Latin America and the Caribbean. It also relocated its main office from New York to Miami that fall. But by December, the airline failed to turn things around and shut down operations.

Timothy Mellon, grandson of Andrew Mellon, initially bought the airline’s trademarks and intellectual property. But it was later sold to others. Early in 2024, Carter acquired the trademark, logo and intellectual property, including the name Pan American World Airways.

When Debbi Fuller, 75, first heard about the trips, “it’s the nostalgia” that drew her interest and the idea of tracing the original routes. But she hesitated to book a trip. A former Pan Am flight attendant until 1989 based out of John F. Kennedy airport, she assumed her husband, Don, 82 and a retired machinist, would balk at the high price.

But when she told him, he responded: “I lost that much money in the stock market yesterday! Go for it.”

When the two were young and dating, she wore a t-shirt that read, “Marry me, fly free,” alluding to free flights for employees and their spouses. So, he traveled widely because of her and her job.

“He understands the importance of Pan Am,” and they have worked hard and saved a lot for moments like this, said the Langdon, New Hampshire resident. She reserved a seat on the June 15 trip.

She initially tried to get on the first trip but that already sold out. The second trip materialized only after the first one sold out within 2 1/2 months, organizers said.

A trip from Miami?

And organizers say it’s now possible they may offer a third trip in 2026 or 2027, one between Miami and Latin America in 2026 or 2027 if there’s demand. The region was a big destination for Pan Am from Miami, its first home, in the airline’s its heyday.

Pan Am’s first flight in 1927 from Key West to Havana only carried mail. In those days, carriers were given mail routes before they could transport passengers.

Key West had a terminal where the airline was based for one year. It’s still there today, but it’s a restaurant called First Flight.

We’re looking at it,” said Gary Bartelings, founder and managing director of Bartelings, on bringing an excursion to the Magic City. His company specializes in high-end private aircraft world trips and is one of the organizers of the current trips.

He said he could see putting together an itinerary that includes Brazil, Argentina and “then potentially Antarctica.”

“Miami would be a starting point for that,” he said in an interview with the Miami Herald.

Organizers say the commemorative trips are inspired by the pioneering spirit of the early Pan Am years. And so, they will fly round trip to Europe from New York City, closely following the routes of the original Flying Boats with stops in Bermuda, Lisbon, Marseille, London and Foynes in Ireland.

Hotels that guests will stay at include the Rosewood in Bermuda, the Four Seasons Ritz in Lisbon, the Savoy in London and Dromoland Castle in Ireland. Each trip starts and ends with gala evenings at the newly renovated Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Special events include an evening of fado in Lisbon and an exclusive dinner at the Flying Boat Museum in Foynes, which has the only B314 Flying Boat replica in the world.

“These journeys, tracing both the original Pan Am Southern Transatlantic Route between New York and Marseilles and the northern transatlantic route between London and New York, have been painstakingly designed to honor the unmatched legacy of Pan Am and I look forward to welcoming guests onboard in 2025,” said Craig Carter, the businessman who licensed the trademark and logo.

The organizing groups came together from different places. Bartelings was introduced to the Pan Am Museum Foundation

“We had never done something with an airline,” said Gary Bartelings. His tours were focused on taking people to famous or important world sites “for people limited with time but keenness to travel the world.”

The Long Island, New York-based Pan Am Museum is focused on keeping the memory of Pan Am alive. And as conversations with them continued, Bartelings realized, “this is something that need to be celebrated.”

History in Miami

Bartelings and the Pan Am Museum’s hope to create a flight for Miami is based on the city’s importance in the airline’s history.

After starting in Key West in 1927, the airline moved operations to Miami in 1928. It built a facility at Northwest 36th Street, the Pan Am terminal. That eventually grew into Miami International Airport. Pan Am built Hangar 5 in 1929, the oldest airport structure in the country.

The first international travel was from Miami. Today there’s debate over whether to preserve Hangar 5, and it’s unclear what the future holds.

In the 1930s, the airline developed Dinner Key terminal in Coconut Grove,. After WWII, the flying boats and use of water landing aircrafts became less important because land planes started to be built. Today, it’s Miami City Hall, on Pan American Drive.

PanAm then started expanding to Latin America. The airline played a key role in Operation Pedro Pan, which brought young Cubans to Miami . The plane also used to deliver the Miami Herald’s Latin America edition to the region. Both were called The Clipper.

Pan Am flights as we knew them may be gone from the skies, but the airline, which will mark its 100th anniversary in 2027, has left a legacy in Miami

Pan Am’s giant globe, once inside the Coconut Grove terminal and then at the Museum of Science, is now at the World Center in downtown Miami.

And the nostalgic flights are almost ready for departure.