Pan American Airways Corp. today announced a proposal for the creation of a full-service aviation facility at the Pease International Tradeport, located in Portsmouth New Hampshire. The formal announcement will take place at this morning’s meeting of the Pease Development Authority’s Marketing Committee.

        Their presentation followed last week’s execution of a Memorandum of Understanding between Pan Am and the PDA, in which the Airline and the Authority outlined the basic terms of a long-term lease arrangement. This agreement sets in motion the Authority’s approval process which will conclude with a presentation before the PDA Board of Directors on Thursday, August 13^th.

        Pan Am’s plan, as presented by its President, David A. Fink, includes the renovation of Building 227, a 200,000 square foot hangar which will be used by Pan Am as a maintenance facility for its own fleet of Boeing 727-200 aircraft. Pan Am’s plans include developing the facility for the performance of similar work on aircraft owned by other carriers. Mr. Fink indicated that Pan Am would use its own private capital to fund the renovations, and that the facility plans to hire, train and eventually employ between 300 and 500 technically skilled personnel.

        Pan Am was acquired earlier this summer by Timothy Mellon, Chairman of Nashua based Guilford Transportation Industries Inc., and Fink, Guilford’s President.

        "We are pleased with the level of interest and cooperation we have received from the PDA," said Fink who also added that the efforts of Congressman John Sununu were a key aspect of the decision to re-locate at Pease. "Congressman Sununu attended a dinner in Washington, D.C. honoring our railroad company, the Guilford Rail System, for winning the Gold Harriman Award as the safest in its class nationally. We were attending those ceremonies on our way to Florida for the closing on our acquisition of Pan Am. As our discussion turned to the airline, the Congressman urged us to consider Pease as part of our plans for growing Pan Am’s business."

        George Meyer, Executive Director of the PDA stated, "The Pease Development Authority is extremely pleased to have Pan American Airways Corp. as a tenant." Meyer continued, "This project is a major step in the development of the Pease International Tradeport providing a large number of skilled jobs with an aviation company that has world wide name recognition, and is owned by a New Hampshire based company with a highly aggressive and effective management team. It doesn't’ get any better than that!"

        If the Pan Am proposal is approved, the Airline’s Ft. Lauderdale, Florida maintenance operations would be relocated to the Tradeport, along with ancillary inventory and office functions establishing an immediate and significant presence for the Airline at Pease.