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Pan Am at its peak

At its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Pan Am advertised under the slogan, the "World's Most Experienced Airline". It carried 6.7 million passengers in 1966, and by 1968, its 150 jets flew to 86 countries on every continent except for Antarctica over a scheduled route network of 81,410 unduplicated miles (131,000 km). During that period the airline was profitable and its cash reserves totaled $1 billion. Most routes were between New York, Europe, and South America, and between Miami and the Caribbean. In 1964 Pan Am began a helicopter shuttle between New York's John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports and Lower Manhattan, operated by New York Airways. Aside from the DC-8, the Boeing 707 and 747, the Pan Am jet fleet included Boeing 720Bs and 727s (the first aircraft to sport Pan Am — rather than Pan American — titles). (The airline later had Boeing 737s and 747SPs (which could fly nonstop New York to Tokyo), Lockheed L-1011 Tristars, McDonnell-Douglas DC-10s, and Airbus A300s and A310s.) Pan Am owned the InterContinental Hotel chain and had a financial interest in the Falcon Jet Corporation, which held marketing rights to the Dassault Falcon 20 business jet in North America. The airline was involved in creating a missile-tracking range in the South Atlantic and operating a nuclear-engine testing laboratory in Nevada. In addition, Pan Am participated in several notable humanitarian flights.

At its height Pan Am was well regarded for its modern fleet and experienced crews: cabin staff were multilingual and usually college graduates, frequently with nursing training.[63] Pan Am's onboard service and cuisine, inspired by Maxim's de Paris, were delivered "with a personal flair that has rarely been equaled.