A FORMER executive of Bord Failte in the US, Mr Donal McSullivan, is one of the backers of the relaunch of Pan American Airways.

Pan American Airways is to begin flying again this summer under the style Pan Am The New Airline.

This was confirmed to The Irish Times yesterday by Mr McSullivan who, with Mr Martin Shugrue, a former Pan Am pilot, has revived the company as a new low cost air line.

Mr Shugrue, president and chief executive of the new company, has linked up with Mr Charles E Cobb, a former United States ambassador to Iceland and under secretary of commerce for travel and tourism with the Reagan administration.

Mr Shugrue claimed that the new airline will operate with the industry's lowest cost structure, estimated to be 4.8 cents per available seat mile.

The new Pan Am will begin flying this summer with non stop services to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami, with San Juan and other destinations to be added later.