AVIATION: Political Compromise

When Pan American World Airways' President Juan Terry Trippe offered to buy American Overseas Airlines nearly two years ago, the deal was all set except for the simple question of whether the Civil Aeronautics Board would approve the merger. But by this summer Juan Trippe's proposal had stirred up the biggest snarl of bureaucratic confusion and political in-fighting that Washington has seen in many years.

Last December CAB's own examiner okayed the merger. The Justice Department rushed in crying "monopoly." Then Trans World Airlines, bitterly opposing the deal, hired ex-Presidential Counsel Clark Clifford to represent their interests.

Two months ago CAB...