Talaat Captan is the creator of the Pan Am Experience and the founder and CEO of Air Hollywood, the Los Angeles studio where it takes place.
The idea behind the Pan Am Experience
Captan has loved aviation since childhood, and the golden age of air travel, when flying was an occasion, was the inspiration for the Pan Am Experience. Using interior components from a retired Boeing 747 together with newly built pieces, he and his team recreated the look and feel of a 1970s Pan Am cabin, down to the seats upholstered to match Pan Am’s originals and seatbelts bearing the classic logo.
Since it opened in 2014, guests have been welcomed aboard by crew in period uniforms and served a multi-course in-flight dinner, turning a film set into one of the most talked-about immersive dining experiences in Los Angeles. BizBash named Captan one of its Event Innovators in 2015 for the concept.
Bringing Pan Am back
Captan is one of four executives, together with Craig Carter, Steve Craig and Jeff Cova, working to return Pan American World Airways to aviation and travel. The plan includes relaunching Pan Am as a scheduled charter service, opening a Pan Am travel agency in Laguna Hills, California, and reopening the Pan Am Experience.
A career in film and aviation
Before creating the Pan Am Experience, Captan spent decades in the film business as a distributor and producer of a dozen features, including Ground Control. That film’s airport shoot led him to found Air Hollywood in 1998, now home to some of the most-filmed airplane interiors in the industry. He also founded Open Sky for Autism, which uses the same sets to help families prepare for flying.
Read more about Talaat Captan at talaatcaptan.com.