Exit the Pioneer

Under the gun of financial extremity Pan American World Airways has dropped many of the exotic but unprofitable destinations to which it traditionally flew. Then it turned to Iran for about $245 million in rescue loans. Now another long-distinctive feature of the company is going. After 48 years of service, Founder and Chairman Juan Terry Trippe, 75, will not stand for re-election to the board at the annual meeting on May 13.

Company watchers say that the decision signals no fundamental change in Pan Am. Chairman William Seawell has set the company on an austere course, cutting not only routes but personnel. The atmosphere is a far cry from the days of Pioneer Trippe's preeminence. Even after he resigned as chairman in 1968, nominations to the board were routinely submitted to Trippe for approval; he preferred men who cut an elegant figure, either romantic or old-school-tie. Foremost among them: the late Charles Lindbergh.

Seawell has hand-picked replacements for Lindbergh, Trippe and former Treasury Secretary John Connally, who also will not stand for reelection. They are Financier Sol Linowitz; Marietta Tree, a city planner and former chief of the U.S. delegation to the U.N.; and Lowell Dillingham, scion of an old Hawaiian family. Only Dillingham appears cast in the elegant Trippe mold. Though a Boston Peabody, Mrs. Tree is known for her liberal views. Linowitz, a sagacious businessman, is expected to give Seawell tough-minded support.

The chairman will need it. The loan negotiations with Iran appear to be in trouble. One reason: the Iranians demand that General Ali Khademi, chief executive of Iran Air, also be added to Pan Am's board.

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