Watched an [interesting documentary](https://curiositystream.com/video/10932)[^imdb] on the history of Pan Am. A couple interesting points: - It was functional (didn't go bankrupt) early on because it had government mail carrying contracts, no other private airway at the time succeeded that didn't have a mail contract. - It was the driver for the [[Boeing 707]] which was the first jet airliner which could go across the Atlantic. New York to London in 8 hours. - They started with sea planes until after the first second world war. The US government used a lot of Pan Am's planes for troop carriers and they had Pan Am develop a lot of concrete runways and terminals around the world. These runways meant that they could use ground-based airplanes after the war which were much more efficient than seaplanes. - There still exists a Pan Am Lounge in Berlin [^imdb]: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22874616/