Pan American World Airways, the pioneer of commercial aviation, stopped flying Wednesday.
Pan Am said it was killed off by a decision from Delta Air Lines to withdraw from a deal that would have helped Pan Am emerge from bankruptcy court."Without funding, we simply would not have the cash resources to provide the stability the new company would require for its employees and customers," Pan Am president and chief executive Russell L. Ray Jr. said in a statement.
The shutdown came the day after a contentious bankruptcy court hearing that ran into the evening Tuesday, where Delta said it would not put up any more money to keep Pan Am in the air.
Delta had bought Pan Am's northeastern shuttle and most of its remaining trans-Atlantic routes under a deal that was supposed to bring Pan Am out of bankruptcy as a smaller carrier that would move from New York to Miami and concentrate on serving Latin America.
The airline was founded in 1927 by Juan T. Trippe, and it inaugurated the first scheduled international flight - a mail run between Key West, Fla., and Havana, Cuba.
In 1935, it launched the first scheduled trans-Pacific service, and four years later, it began the first scheduled trans-Atlantic service.
People phoning Pan Am's reservations office Wednesday were told that the airline had closed with a recorded message that said "we deeply regret that economic circumstances have forced us to take this action."
The message said flights already en route would go on to their destinations, but everything else had been canceled. Passengers with Pan Am tickets were advised to contact other airlines for accommodations.
Airlines generally find ways to honor tickets of passengers stranded by airline shutdowns, in a goodwill gesture they hope will lead to more business for themselves.
Delta was to have owned 45 percent of the new Pan Am, while creditors would have held the rest.
Pan Am said it had won concessions from its five major unions and creditors, but Delta said it would not go ahead with the deal because it did not believe Pan Am's business plan would work. Delta's abrupt withdrawal drew fire from lawyers, Pan Am workers and even Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner.
"I am especially distressed that this effort has failed after our labor leaders and employees have demonstrated that they were willing to make sacrifices to keep the company operating," Ray said. "Today, we see the end of an airline whose name will be forever forged in American history."
Pan Am had told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Cornelius Blackshear on Tuesday evening that it would scramble to find emergency financing, in hopes it could come up with a new reorganization plan by Saturday.
Through the night lawyers met with TWA Chairman Carl Icahn in an attempt to get $15 million to keep Pan Am flying through the week.