Originally Posted by
rp2pilot
I believe the Pan Am acquisition also included highly coveted slots/Pacific Routes, definitely a different animal.
Yup.
UAL purchased the entire Pan Am “Pacific Division” lock, stock, and barrel in 1986. This included all the planes, slots, route authorities, equipment, real estate, spare parts, and pilots. It was the equivalent of Pan Am splitting in two and UAL merging with one of the halves.
It was also perhaps the only thing Dick Ferris ever got right and a completely different animal than simply leasing some available airplanes on the open market.