Pan Am changes flight schedules at BIA

BANGOR – Pan American Airways is changing its flight schedules at Bangor International Airport and is reducing staff at its headquarters in Portsmouth, N.H., and at other facilities to save the company from closing altogether.

Spokesman Dan Fortnam on Friday would not give specifics as to how much money Pan Am hopes to save by cutting back its flight service and furloughing about 10 percent of the 500 employees working at Pease International Tradeport in New Hampshire and at an airport in Sanford, Fla., near Orlando. Some reductions are expected at other locations.

“It will save our life, preserve our future, basically,” Fortnam said.

In Bangor, Pan Am will cut jet service to Sanford and Baltimore from six flights per week to four per week. But, Pan Am will add a daily commuter flight to Baltimore on its affiliate, Boston and Maine Airways. A newly inaugurated flight to St. John, New Brunswick, remains on the schedule.

“Actually you end up with more flights,” Fortnam said. “You end up with less on jets and more on commuters.”

He wouldn’t say whether the flight changes at BIA would affect staffing in Bangor.

Fortnam said a dramatic downturn in the number of people traveling, coupled with a typical seasonal slump, are the reasons why the airlines had to make schedule adjustments. The changes will be in place for 60 days, he said.

BIA director Rebecca Hupp said she was notified that Pan Am was cutting all of its service to some towns, but that the airlines’ commitment to Bangor remained strong.

“Bangor has consistently been a good market for them,” Hupp said.

According to the Portsmouth Herald, Pan Am gave furlough letters to its employees at Pease on Thursday. Workers, too, were laid off from Pan Am’s commuter service, Boston and Maine Airways, which has operations at Pease.

The reductions will help keep Pan Am viable, said Fortnam in a telephone interview.

“It saves a lot of gas, it saves a lot of payroll, landing fees and maintenance costs on the ground,” he said. “From our point of view, it’s very consistent with what’s going on in the industry.”