Pan American-Grace Airways
Pan American-Grace Airways Douglas DC-2
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| Founded | September 13, 1928 | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | October 12, 1929 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | 1967 (merged with Braniff International Airways) | ||||||
| Fleet size | See Fleet below | ||||||
| Destinations | See Destinations below | ||||||
| Parent company | Pan American World Airways, W. R. Grace and Company | ||||||
Pan American-Grace Airways, better known as Panagra, was an airline formed as a joint venture between Pan American World Airways and Grace Shipping Company.
Panagra's network stretched from Panama and the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone to Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires. It was founded in 1929 to compete with SCADTA, a German-owned company, and held a quasi-monopoly over air travel in parts of Colombia and South America during the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1939, a passenger traveling from the U.S. to Buenos Aires would board a Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 flying boat at Miami and fly to Colon, Panama in the Canal Zone, stay overnight and then board a Panagra Douglas DC-2 or DC-3 and fly to Buenos Aires with overnight stops in Guayaquil, Arica and Santiago. This routing was a full day faster than the Pan Am service operated via the coast of Brazil. The one-way fare from Miami to Buenos Aires was US $550 (equivalent to $10,245 in 2016).
After World War II, airliners could operate at night over South America, and in 1947 Panagra Douglas DC-6s made scheduled flights from Miami to Buenos Aires in 20 hours and 25 minutes. Pan Am crewed the DC-6 south across the Caribbean to Albrook Field, near Balboa, Panama where Panagra flight crews took over. In 1949, Panagra flights serving Panama shifted to . In 1955, Panagra Douglas DC-6Bs and DC-7Bs began serving Washington DC and New York City with these flights being operated by National Airlines crews north of Miami. In 1957, the Panagra DC-7B service via Lima was several hours faster from New York Idlewild Airport (later renamed JFK Airport) to Buenos Aires than the Pan Am DC-7B service operated via Rio de Janeiro.
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