mi fiEomomm
VOL. V, NO. 10
APACE WITH THE PACEMAKER
DECEMBER, 1962
Industry Experts Speak At Meeting
MEETING IN PROGRESS — Station Managers, department heads and sales personnel gathered
in the Hilton Inn's large meeting room to hear special presentations by industry leaders. Topics ranged
from military traffic, to electronic reservations systems, to special company problems.
Alias Charles Speers
Soothsayer Sees Soaring Success
As part of his speech at the management meeting, Charles
Speers, Vice President—Passenger Sales, American Airlines, read
excerpts from an article appearing in the November 13, 1962 issue
of the Wall Street Journal, dealing with the recent prosperous up
turn in the fortunes of local service airlines. That article appears
below on the left.
Then, after several consultations with wizards, prophets, wit
ches, and fortune cookies, he looked into the future to see what
fate was in store for Piedmont and its fellow airlines. He forthwith
produced an article written for the Wall Street Journal, November
13 issue, 1972. That article appears below on the right.
1962
Local service airlines, after
years of uncertain hedge-hop
ping, are finally gaining altitude.
Surprisingly, they are climb
ing toward prosperity on un
profitable business abandoned by
the big trunk operators.
. . . The advent of the jet is
mainly responsible for this
sweeping change in the pattern
of air service . . . Today’s jets
weren’t designed for trips under
500 miles.
. . . The 13 feeder lines showed
record combined profits of $4.8
million last year ... By contrast,
the trunk lines suffered a whop
ping combined loss of $34.7 mil
lion last year as they struggled
to solve problems caused by the
transition to big jets.
. . . Getting rid of short routes
that can’t be economically served
with big planes often produces
big savings. Trans World Air-"
lines claims it lost $400,000 last
year providing service to South
Bend and Ft. Wayne, Ind., on
some of its Chicago to Dayton,
Ohio, runs. TWA expects a simi
lar deficit this year and has
asked the Civil Aeronautics
Board for permission to drop the
two cities from the route.
To increase efficiency, the
time-worn twin-engine DC-3, still
the feeders’ workhorse, is grad
ually being replaced by faster,
larger twin-engine planes, includ
ing Martins, Convairs and turbo
jet Fairchild F-27’s.
Many feeder lines are adroit
at holding expenses down . . .
Mohawk recently established its
first “no-man station” at Rut
land, Vt. Rutland passengers
now are served by a Mohawk
agent who rides on a scheduled
flight from Glens Falls, N. Y.,
to Rutland, tickets the passen
ger s during turn-around time,
and flies back to Glens Falls
with them.
1972
Domestic Service Airlines, first
known as feeder, later local, then
regional carriers, have finally
achieved the ultimate by com
pletely replacing the U. S. do
mestic trunk lines. They now op
erate all airline services within
the U. S. A.
The advent of the supersonic
transport is mainly responsible
for this sweeping change in the
pattern of air service. Today’s
SST’s were not designed for
trips under three thousand
miles.
The 13 domestic service lines
showed record combined profits
of $48 million last year.
By contrast, the intercontinen
tal carriers, formerly known as
trunk lines, suffered a whop
ping combined loss of $347 mil
lion last year as they struggled
to solve problems caused by the
transition to big supersonics.
Getting rid of short routes that
can’t be economically served
with big planes often produces
big savings for the major air
lines. Trans-Pan Uni-American
Airlines claims it lost $4 million
last year providing service to
San Francisco and Chicago on
some of its round-the-w o r 1 d
flights. Trans-Pan has just been
granted permission to drop the
two cities from its routes, leav
ing it only New York City in the
western hemisphere.
To increase efficiency, the
time-worn twin-engine DC-3, still
the domestic workhorse, is grad
ually being replaced by faster
707’s, DC-8’s, and 990’s.
Many of the domestic lines
are adroit at holding down ex-
p e n s e s. Piedmont recently es
tablished its first “robot-station”
at Atlanta. Atlanta passengers
now are served by an IBM ma
chine which books, tickets, loads
the passengers, announces and
dispatches the flights — it is
Beechcraft Divison
Gets Top Awards
The Beechcraft division of
Piedmont Aviation, Inc., recently
garnered two important awards
for excellence in sales and pro
motion.
Vice President R. S. Northing-
ton, on behalf of Piedmont, ac
cepted the Beech Award of Rec
ognition for the greatest market
penetration and the highest sales
of parts per Beech aircraft in
the United States. The presenta
tion was made at a recent Beech
craft meeting in Wichita, Kan
sas.
At the same meeting, Sales
Representative Bill Work, IFB,
received the Outstanding Sales
man Award for 1962 for the
Southeast United States Region.
Included in the region are Vir
ginia, West Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Geor
gia, Florida, Alabama, and Ten
nessee.
In addition to his award Work
also received a Hamilton watch.
Discussions Produce New Ideas
Roundtable sessions, presenta
tions, and speeches by industry
leaders were highlights of Pied
mont’s annual management
me et i n g November 27-29, at
tended by Station Managers,
sales personnel, and department
heads from all over the system.
Following an opening invoca
tion by General Sales Manager
W. G. McGee, Vice President C.
Gordon Brown described the
purpose of the Atlanta gathering
by saying, “All of Us are here to
exchange ideas and knowledge,
to learn to make Piedmont a bet
ter company, and to serve our
passengers even better.”
Unlike the two preceding
years which were concerned pri
marily with presentations from
company personnel, this year’s
meeting featured talks from
leaders in various airline spe
cialties.
First Session
Starting off the Tuesday morn
ing session was G. H. Ridgeway,
Airport Manager, ATL Depart
ment of Aviation. He described
the problems facing today’s air
port managers, and urged sta
tion personnel to work closely
with airport heads and to pro
mote better passenger under
standing of airline difficulties.
Guests from the Federal Avia
tion Agency followed Ridgeway,
and spoke 1#FVM**prorGx4nrcs
and future goals. They were: Ar-
vin Basnight, .Assistant Adminis
trator for the Southeast Region;
Jim Frazier, Air Carrier Special
ist; and Don L. Smith, Assistant
Air Traffic Control Chief for the
Southeast Region.
That afternoon, ATA Director
of Special Market Services
Robert B. Minogue and Delta
Sales Promotion Manager Henry
Ross conducted a special presen
tation on military traffic and its
promotion. They noted that the
military is the nation’s largest
user of commercial airlines, and
explained how the military op-
Value Line Survey Soys Locals Up
The local service airlines are
filling an increasingly important
place in the nation’s transporta
tion system, says a recent report
in the Value Line Investment
Survey.
The local airlines, continues
the Survey, are moving swiftly
to fill the gap in service left by
the shift of trunk carriers to
more profitable, long-haul mar
kets.
This growth of the locals has
been made possible, states the
Value Line Survey, by a new en
lightened subsidy policy of the
Civil Aeronautics Board. The
new CAB policy, inaugurated in
1961, has measurably strength
ened the airlines’ financial
health — making possible the ac
quisition of modern aircraft
necessary to provide the addi
tional services. At the same time,
the Survey observes, the new
policy has resulted in an actual
reduction in the projected level
of subsidy.
Speaking specifically about
Piedmont Airlines, the Survey
said that Piedmont "... has ex
panded its routes substantially
said to be absolutely foolproof,
foolproof, foolproof, foolproof ...
this year — including an exten
sion to Atlanta, Ga., an impor
tant transportation center in the
Southeast.
“The expansion was facilitated
by the purchase last year of 17
Martin 404’s to replace the car
rier’s DC-3’s. The impact of both
of these moves has been a sharp
increase in earnings.”
Davis Named Trustee
For Wake Forest
President T. H. Davis has been
elected to the Board of Trustees
of Wake Forest College, Win
ston-Salem, N. C.
His term will begin in Jan
uary, 1963, and continue through
December 31, 1966. Mr. Davis
was elected to the Board during
the recent meeting in Raleigh,
N. C., of the Baptist State Con
vention of North Carolina.
Two More Top List
Last month it was reported
that Wilmington listed 100 per
cent participation within the sta
tion in the local United Fund
Campaign. This month two more
(Continued on Page Six)
erates when securing civilian
transportation.
Increase Sales
Methods of increasing sales in
this area were also discussed, as
well as the current JAMTO pro-
grams. The day’s concluding
speaker was Charles Hodges,
Managing Director of the
Charleston Chamber of Com
merce.
Special dinner and luncheon
speakers also addressed the
group. Following a reception and
dinner Tuesday evening, the
guest speaker was Thomas M.
Miller, Vice President of Traffic
and Sales, Delta Airlines. The
Wednesday luncheon speaker
was C. R. Speers, Vice President
—Passenger Sales, American Air
lines, and speaking after the re
ception and dinner that evening
was John Haliburton, Vice Pres
ident—Operations, Eastern Air
lines.
International sales and promo
tion was the theme of Wednes
day morning’s session, conducted
by William C. Love, Senior Di
rector of Area Sales, Trans
World Airlines. He described the
12 tour itineraries currently
being jointly promoted by Pied
mont and TWA, and gave a slide
presentation on the promotional
methods being used to sell the
special tours.
Jve\v“SysT1FnT
The balance of the morning
was concerned with the use and
development of electronic reser
vations and related activities,
and streamlining ground proce
dures. This was presented by a
special team from Eastern Air
lines, consisting of Frank
Sharpe, Executive Vice Presi
dent—Sales and Services; Walter
J. Dane, Director—Ground Serv
ices; and Margaret V. Robinson,
Assistant to Vice President—
Customer Services.
The remainder of the meeting
was devoted entirely to company
personnel, procedures, and prob
lems. The Operations Depart
ment directed the session Wed
nesday afternoon, and the Sales
(Continued on Page Six)
Rx for Sagging Morale
Public relations men are
used to receiving unusual let
ters, but Piedmont’s p.r. man
Don Britt got one the other
day to truly warm the heart
and restore faith in people.
Read it and you’ll agree:
Gentlemen:
“I am returning to you an
authorization for room rent
and meals.
“I sincerely thank you and
your personnel for the cour
tesy extended me during your
trials of November 20 and 21.
It was not your fault the
weather was so bad, and you
had already made all effort.';
to assist me in reaching my
destination. The exceptional
courtesy of Mr. W. C. Johnson
at Bristol, Va., and other of
your employees under the
stress of the difficulties, ha.“
prompted me in returning
this authorization and
prompted me to pay for the
lodging myself.”
Very truly yours,
G. H. Yandell
Frankfort, Ky.