In 2017 the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on a plan by Talaat Captan, founder and CEO of Air Hollywood, to bring the Pan Am Experience to the Las Vegas Strip. The article, by business reporter Todd Prince, looked at what the Los Angeles show offered, why Captan believed it would suit Las Vegas visitors, and how local observers judged its chances. Here is our summary of that coverage, along with some context on where the story has gone since.
What the Review-Journal reported
The article explained that Captan and his partner Anthony Toth had recreated a 1970s Pan Am flight inside Air Hollywood’s Los Angeles studio. The details went well beyond the cabin itself: period uniforms, magazines, menus, silverware and even the colognes and perfumes of the era. Since the first show in October 2014, the pair had hosted more than 400 events aboard the plane, including parties, weddings and corporate functions, along with regular public evenings.
Captan told the paper he was looking for a high-end hotel partner on the Strip. He saw the experience as a luxury product suited to guests of upscale resorts and to the large conventions that fill the city every year. In his words, Our Pan Am Experience is a time machine.
Inside the show
The Review-Journal described the evening as a kind of dinner theater, with the double-decker cabin as the stage. Guests begin with cocktails in a recreated Pan Am lounge, then board for a five- or six-course meal served by a crew in 1970s uniforms. The menu included caviar, shrimp and chateaubriand, with meat carved in the aisle. Between courses, guests play aviation trivia and watch a fashion show of Pan Am uniforms from different decades. The paper put the full evening at about three hours, with tickets at $300 for the lower deck and $400 for the six-course upper deck.
For a Las Vegas version, Captan described upgrades such as LED projections that would make it look as if the plane were flying over cities like Paris and London, and gentle simulated turbulence. He also told the paper that the team had refined the show to the point where it could run every day. That would be a big change from the handful of events held each month in Los Angeles.
A measured look at the Las Vegas market
The article did not read like a press release. The Review-Journal compared the ticket price with other premium Las Vegas outings and asked outside voices for their views. A Las Vegas historian noted that many proposed attractions never open, and suggested offering several price points and shorter formats, since visitors’ time is limited. Convention organizers from the Nightclub and Bar Convention and the NAB Show said they expected interest from attendees. They added that demand would depend on corporate budgets and how far the venue was from the Strip.
The paper also reported that Captan had licensed the Pan Am brand for the project and wanted room for a gift shop and museum alongside the cabin. He had found one offer of space on the Strip unappealing and was in early talks with another casino.
How the Pan Am Experience began
The Review-Journal also recounted the origin of Air Hollywood. Captan founded the studio after a 1998 problem filming airport scenes for his movie Ground Control at LAX, a story we tell in more detail in How Talaat Captan Turned a Ground Control Setback into Air Hollywood.
According to the article, it was Captan who persuaded Toth, a longtime collector of Pan Am artifacts and aircraft parts, to move his collection and cabin to the studio in 2014. Captan explained that he wanted to put the cabin to use rather than leave it sitting idle. Demand for that first show grew into a regular schedule of public and private events. The article noted that corporate clients had also hosted gatherings on board.
Other publications covered the same idea around that time. Adweek asked whether the dining experience could land on the Strip, and its story is archived on Air Hollywood’s news page. The event industry had already noticed the show: BizBash named Captan one of its 2015 Event Innovators.
Where the story stands today
The Las Vegas plan was one chapter in a longer relationship between Captan and the Pan Am name. He is now one of the four executives working to revive Pan American World Airways, as covered in our post on the Pan Am leadership team. In December 2025 the Orange County Business Journal reported that the new owners plan to move the Pan Am Experience to a new home at the Citadel Outlets; our summary of that article is here.
For more on the experience itself, see the founder page on the Pan Am Experience website, or browse Talaat Captan’s other ventures.
