Pan Am Picks a Copilot

The airline industry has been swept by a Jetstream of rumors for weeks that the Pan American World Airways board was locked in a bitter intramural fight over the company's top management. The 23-member board had even scheduled one meeting and then postponed it, ostensibly because not enough directors could attend. Thus, when newsmen learned that the directors had finally gone into session last week, ten of them rushed to Manhattan's 59-story Pan American Building. They were directed to a conference room two floors above the board room and kept away from the 31-hour meeting by uniformed guards. Finally, they heard a prepared statement from a Pan Am vice president who declined to answer any questions.

The board named as Pan Am's new president William T. Seawell, the chief of Rolls-Royce's U.S. subsidiary and a former senior vice president of American Airlines. He will take over many of Pan Am's day-to-day operations from Chairman Najeeb Halaby, but Halaby retains the title of chief executive. Thus, at least temporarily, "Jeeb" Halaby won a double victory over a board faction that reportedly had lost faith in his ability to lift Pan Am. Halaby not only retained primary authority but, to the disappointment of four group vice presidents whom Halaby had named last June, he also won approval of his own outside candidate for the presidency.

Seawell, 53, a West Point graduate, also got a Harvard law degree and was a career Air Force officer until 1963, when he retired as a brigadier general and commandant of cadets at the Air Force Academy to enter private business. At American Airlines, he was credited with helping turn a troubled company into a profitable one in short order and became known as a decisive, "doit" man. Pan Am clearly can use him. Faced with an expected operating loss of close to $40 million this year, the airline laid off 1,250 employees in the first two weeks of November alone. That will save some money, and many of the layoffs were reportedly made to convince Wall Street investors that Pan Am's outlook will improve. But last week officers announced that the average Pan Am flight in October was only 50.1% full, down from 51.3% a year ago.

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