what was the business reason that panam airline was closed?

Answer 1

Hello!
This is what I found... I hope it helps!

The history of deregulation has seen the fortunes of both established and new carriers alike ebb and flow. In the days immediately after deregulation, the newcomers—the “can’t miss” wave of the future—were leaner, smarter, and more innovative (for example, People Express) than their older rivals. By 1985, new carriers had already jumped to a 17 percent market share. But some of these new, smaller entrants left the market, including Air Florida (opened in 1979, closed in 1983), New York Air (opened in 1980, merged in 1986), and People Express (opened in 1981, merged in 1986). Was the battle over? Not by a long shot. A second wave of new entrants, including Air South, Frontier, Kiwi, and Valujet, by 1996 had rebuilt its share of the market to 18 percent.

United Airlines chairman and CEO Gerald Greenwald likened new airlines to newborn sea turtles trying to make their way to the sea: Some will make it and some will not. New entrants fail for a variety of reasons, which include inexperienced management, unrealistic business plans, lack of solid financial backing, public doubts about their reliability, and a poorly conceived pricing structure.

Some of the industry’s oldest and proudest names were also unable to survive. Both Eastern Airlines and Braniff closed in 1989, and Pan American shut down in 1990. But other established airlines took difficult steps that enabled them to regain much of their lost market share.

Answer 2

Pan Am went pear shaped after the Lockerbie disaster which was for them, the final nail in the coffin (regretably for many others as well). Before that (as are many US airlines today) it was running with huge losses. This is/ was partly due to the arcane and archaic nature of their management and because it is very difficult to adapt an old fashioned, union ridden industry to modern standards of business.