[4] The initial network spanned along the East Coast from Philadelphia to Norfolk, and the fleet was composed of Volpar (Beechcraft) Model 18 11-seat airliners.

[11] Pan Am also recognized the ground breaking work done by Hank Ransome with regards to operating into Washington National Airport by utilizing the DHC-7s unique capabilities.

[12] To meet the demands of Pan Am, the structure of the route network (which had not seen any major modifications during the time as Ransome Airlines) saw a number of profound changes.

By 1990, Pan Am Express operated scheduled flights to 12 destinations in northern and central Europe from Tegel; New York (from JFK and LaGuardia) was linked to 14 airports in the northeastern United States and Canada.

[16] The European and Miami centered networks were subsequently discontinued, with John F. Kennedy International Airport becoming the sole hub for TWE.

[17] Due to a lack of profitability, TWA decided to shut down Trans World Express on 6 November 1995,[18] which resulted in the loss of 300 jobs at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, where the company had been headquartered and kept its maintenance base for the nearly four decades of its existence.

The route network at JFK Airport was taken over by Trans States Airlines,[19] with the majority of TWE's fleet of then 11 ATR 42s being acquired by Mahalo Air.