January 4, 1983

Pan American World Airways is seeking to recover from a costly marketing mistake it made involving travel agents last year, just as it enters the lean winter months when it must dip into cash reserves until the seasonal spring pickup begins. The miscalculation cost the carrier much business during the height of the summer tourist season, when it generally makes most of its money, and has left it in a more difficult position during the current slow period. Pan Am's experience also illustrates the power of the travel agent over the airline industry. Last March, Pan Am suspended commission overrides - the added payments that some travel agencies receive if they surpass certain sales levels. It also withdrew such bonuses as free travel for those who arrange convention business.

While the worldwide recession has buffeted European business in general, Unilever, the giant British-Dutch consumer products company, seems to be holding to a balanced, if plodding, course by virtue of its sheer size and stable management. ''Their broad geographical spread and product selection makes them fairly recession-resistant,'' said a West German securities analyst. ''But it is not an exciting investment. It's the kind of share you put your money in and leave.''

In a crowded Republican celebration at which hundreds of invited guests were turned away, Andrew P. O'Rourke was sworn in today as Westchester's sixth County Executive. He succeeds Lieut. Gov. Alfred B. DelBello, the first Democrat to hold the post. Mr. O'Rourke, a 49-year-old lawyer, pledged to run a ''reasonable, responsive, compassionate and efficient government,'' but one that he said could ''legitimately aid localities - and their budgets - by cutting out duplicative services and functions.'' A Republican who served for eight years as a member of the county Legislature, the last four as its chairman, Mr. O'Rourke said: ''Government has been described as the art of doing the possible. From my years in county government, I know what it can do, and I know what it cannot do.''

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has pumped almost $175 million into 15 deeply troubled savings banks, most of them in New York City, the agency's chairman said yesterday. Without the insurance corporation's injection of capital, the banks could not continue operating much longer because they would run out of surplus funds, the amount by which their assets exceed their debts, Government officials said. William M. Isaac, the F.D.I.C. chairman, said in an interview that the agency acted under new powers granted last year by Congress. The Government loans were required because of persistent losses by the savings banks as a result of high interest rates. The high rates forced the banks to pay more for deposits than they were receiving from their investments, mostly in long-term mortgages. Although interest rates have declined sharply, many savings banks continue to hold long-term deposits at high interest rates and they will continue to lose money until these deposits mature.

Schools on Staten Island and in the Douglaston-Little Neck section of northeastern Queens, perennial leaders in reading, ranked highest on the annual citywide reading achievement tests given last spring, according to a report released yesterday by the New York City Board of Education. Preliminary data last spring showed that 51 percent of the pupils in the city's elementary schools and junior high schools had reading scores above the national average, but gave no information on individual schools. The latest report provides results for each grade level in every elementary school and junior high school in the system. High schools are not included in the testing program. Eight of New York City's 20 highest-ranking elementary schools were on Staten Island, District 31, where 34 of the 38 elementary schools and eight of the nine junior high schools exceeded the national average.