Reconciliation

It was not exactly love but mutual interests that drew W. R. Grace & Co. and Pan American Airways Corp. together. Grace wanted a better way to get South American wealth from the jungles to its ships on the coast; ambitious Pan Am saw much to be gained through Grace's contacts and capital. Result: Pan American-Grace Airways, organized in 1928 Panagra took on the job of flying the western coast of South America to Buenos Aires For a while Grace steamshippers and Pan Am airmen were happy together. But trouble soon developed between Panagra and one of its parents. Pan Am, the new line discovered, had quietly set up a route of its own from the eastern coast to the U.S.: it became Panagra's only link to its rich U.S. customers.

Worse yet, as time went on Pan Am showed no intention of giving Panagra any advantages. On the other hand Grace was all for pushing Panagra into the highest circles, no matter what it meant to Pan Am's prestige and profits.

The inevitable result was a family quarrel the like of which the neighborhood had never seen or heard. The disturbance became so noisy that Grace finally ran for the cops, i.e. the Civil Aeronautics Board But CAB decided that the case really was not under its jurisdiction, and left them to fight it out.

Last week, after years of squabbling, the family kissed & made up. In a spirit of sweet accord, Pan Am and Grace jointly announced a 99-year agreement under which Panagra will offer direct daily through service from the U.S. to South America, with Panagra planes and crews flying over Pan Am's routes from Miami and New Orleans to the Canal Zone and going on from there as usual. All that is needed now is the official blessing of CAB, which has already nodded approval.

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