Is the future of air travel being built in Long Beach? See Kevin Costelloe’s front-page feature on JetZero, an upstart aerospace firm with plenty of OC ties and over $300 million in funding.
In Newport Beach, another new venture is aiming to take to the skies with a nod to the past, via one of the best-known names in commercial air travel history, Pan American World Airways.
Pan Am Global Holdings, headed by OC residents Steve Craig and Craig Carter, last year took over ownership of Pan Am’s intellectual property, buying the brand from billionaire Timothy Mellon.
The airline, founded in 1927, ceased operations in the early 1990s.
Steve Craig is the founder of Newport Beach-based Craig Realty Group, one of the country’s largest owners of outlet malls, while Craig Carter headed up Luxe Travel Management in Irvine which is now part of a travel division owned by JP Morgan.
The new company, with its HQ a few blocks from John Wayne Airport, wants to resurrect what they call the ‘World’s Most-Beloved Airline’ on several fronts, with licensing of Pan Am’s well-known blue and white logo now underway.
In 2026, a new Pan Am-themed hotel, to run under the Hilton boutique Tapestry Collection banner, is set to open next to Craig Realty’s biggest area retail property, the Citadel Outlets in Commerce.
Pan Am Travel, a new travel agency geared towards corporate clients, has also been unveiled in Laguna Hills.
Is a full-fledged resuscitation of Pan Am flying operations possible? In June, the new company said it would work with Miami’s AVi8 Air Capital “to explore the relaunch of Pan American World Airways as a scheduled commercial airline.”
Nothing’s set in stone, but Carter tells the Business Journal that if such a plan moves ahead, his company will seek outside investors or explore an IPO.
Famed OC flight training school Sunrise Aviation Co. has closed its doors after a 40+ year run next to John Wayne Airport.
Company owner Michael Church said he closed down operations at the end of July due to health challenges he was facing, including a broken back and a recent diagnosis of multiple myeloma.
FBO provider ACI Jet is helping the company as it winds down, Church said in a July 9 letter to customers. “They plan to preserve some pieces related to Sunrise Aviation’s history,” which will be incorporated into ACI’s new general aviation and flight school development, he said.
Sunrise Aviation was highlighted in a 2018 Business Journal feature, along with local execs that took lessons at the flight academy, like current Ankona Capital managing director Newth Morris. At the time, Sunrise had 19 planes at JWA and employed about 30.
“It’s a dangerous hobby,” Morris said in the 2018 story. “It’s the kind (of hobby) you want to be good at.”
John Wayne Airport is aiming to avoid some family meltdowns at the security line.
The airport is one of four selected for the new “Families on the Fly” program, a streamlined option for families traveling with young children.
