Pan American World Airways is flying

Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am is flying again.

A new ABC drama is harkening back to the glamour days of flying, when the food was edible, seats roomy and the Transportation Security Administration didn’t exist.

“Pan Am,” which has been picked up by the network for the 2011-12 season, will focus on flight attendants — with all the passion, jealousy and spying that can be packed into a nighttime drama.

The series is set in the early 1960s, when stewardesses were admired and gawked at — and dealt with such requirements as girdles and weight checks. It’s also the go-go, color-saturated period in which the Emmy-winning series “Mad Men” takes place.

In those days, Pan Am was the epitome of glamorous flying. Con man Frank Abagnale Jr. of “Catch Me If You Can” fame, who once famously posed as a Pan Am pilot, called it the “Ritz-Carlton of airlines.”

Christina Ricci stars in the drama written and produced by Jack Orman, a former “ER” writer.

“Pan Am” is set to debut in September.

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