History 2814F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Juan Trippe, Metlife Building, Hubris
5 Sep 2021
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Document Summary
The story of the decline of pan american airways and with it the jet set is in many ways a familiar one. The company was led by a visionary figure, juan trippe, who was key to the growth of the company. But early successes had taught trippe that he could do no wrong. And so he overextended the company, taking an enormous gamble on jet engine technology without much evidence that such a gamble would pay off. By the late 1970s, however, with the deregulation of the skies, pan american airways was said to have been exposed as what men like howard hughes had long said it had been: a corporate extension of washington"s power. Pan american airways had maintained its position as a result of the protected routes it enjoyed and because of trippe"s personal ties to powerful figures in washington. But it was not simply the loss of this privileged position that led to the demise of pan.
