What airline owned the 747 blown up by a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988?

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The airline that owned the 747 destroyed by a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 was Pan Am.

The aircraft was Pan Am Flight 103, a Boeing 747-121 named Clipper Maid of the Seas. On December 21, 1988, it was flying from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York when a bomb detonated over Lockerbie, Scotland.

All 259 people aboard were killed, along with 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground, for a total of 270 fatalities. The bombing became known as the Lockerbie disaster and remains the deadliest terrorist attack in the United Kingdom.

A common mix-up is confusing the airline with the aircraft manufacturer: Boeing built the 747, but Pan American World Airways operated and owned the plane. The flight number was retired after the bombing, and Pan Am ceased operations in 1991.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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