September/October, 1978
Vol. XXIX, No. 4
PIE is now on the NYSE
September 25, 1978 is a date,
like February 20, 1948, to be
remembered by those interested
in Piedmont Aviation, Inc.
Like the first day of airline
operations, it was a most excit
ing day for the Company. Sep
tember 25, 1978 was the day the
common stock of Piedmont Avia
tion, Inc. traded on the New
York Stock Exchange for the
first time.
Seeing PIE flash across the
ticker tape was every bit as
thrilling as seeing the first jet
take off in Piedmont’s colors.
The pace of the transaction
seemed even faster.
In keeping with Wall Street
tradition. Piedmont President T.
H. Davis bought the first 100
shares of the Company’s stock.
He and other Company officials
were joined by New York Stock
Exchange Chairman William
Batten for the initial trade cere
monies on the Exchange floor at
10:00 a.m. The first shares,
which opened at 13-1/4, were
issued to T. H. Davis, III, grand
son of Piedmont’s President.
PIE was the Exchange’s first
stock trade of the day.
While on the trading floor, the
J
Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, William Batten, Piedmont President T. H. Davis, Special
ist James Emrich, and T. H. Davis, Jr., examine ths tape of the first NYSE trade of PIE. _
Piedmont people met the special
ist assigned to the Company’s
stock. At post #8 where PIE is
traded, specialist James Emrich
of Scholl & Levin explained his
function. He buys and sells stock
based on orders from brokers
or individuals who are members
of the NYSE. Each company
listed on the Big Board has a
specialist in its stock. Most of
the specialists handle several
companies. Davis’ buy order for
the first shares was placed by the
brokerage firm Merrill Lynch,
Pierce Fenner & Smith Incor
porated.
On the same day, Monday,
September 25, 1978, the common
stock of Piedmont Aviation, Inc.
was also listed for trading on the
Midwest Stock Exchange in
Chicago. Piedmont’s stock was
previously traded on the Over-
The-Counter market.
In listing on both exchanges,
the stock will be accessible to a
much broader market, enabling
the Company to increase its
shareholder base. The timing of
the listings was most appropri
ate at the mid-point in the 30th
anniversary year of the Com
pany’s airline operations.
Fleet will change;
new orders announced
On August 22, 1978, the Company announced
it had placed a $37 million order with the Boeing
Company for four new Boeing 737 jet aircraft.
The planes will be delivered between July, 1979
and March, 1980. In the fall of last year, Pied
mont ordered three Boeing 737s for delivery
between October, 1978 and March, 1979.
The seven Boeing 737s on order will be deliv
ered with wide-body interiors, configured for
112 passengers. The new planes will also meet
the federal (FAR-36) noise level requirements.
Pinehurst Airlines, an all-cargo carrier based
in Pinehurst, North Carolina, has made a down
payment on three of Piedmont’s YS-lls. The
first of the three was delivered in September.
They will get two more at the end of 1978. Pine
hurst has an option for ten more of the YS-lls
with delivery dates between the spring of 1979
and the fall of 1980. The remaining six YS-lls
will be retained indefinitely for serving the Pied
mont stations which are unable to accommodate
jet equipment.
Traffic records set in third quarter
The third quarter, ending September 30,
1978, was the best trafi'ic quarter in the Com
pany’s history. It topped the Company’s previ
ous record three-month period set in the second
quarter of this year.
The middle month of the third quarter,
August, stands as the all-time-high month for
passenger boardings. Piedmont carried a total
of 445,011 passengers during August, 1978.
Revenue passenger miles were up 13.8 per
cent for the July-through-September period,
from 350,969,035 in 1977 to 399,294,307 this
year.
Passenger boardings rose 9.8 per cent for
the three months, from 1,152,464 last year to
1,265,751 at the end of September, 1978.
The passenger load factor for the July-
through-September period was 58.97 per cent
this year as compared to 54.82 per cent in 1977.
For the first nine months of 1978, revenue
passenger miles increased 12.4 per cent. There
were 1,051,631,102 revenue passenger miles
flown through September of this year as com
pared to 935,969,721 during the same period
last year.
Passenger boardings for the nine months
totalled 3,380,417, up 9 per cent over the 3,101,-
451 passengers carried during the first nine
months of 1977.
The passenger load factor for January
through September, 1978 was 54.92 per cent. In
the same period last year it was 51.87 per cent.
When he announced the traffic statistics.
Senior Vice President W. R. Howard said, “We
are pleased with our traffic results thus far this
year. Our third quarter earnings report will be
released later this month.”
WeVe putting Pittsburgh and Boston on the map
Since July, when the Company applied for
the Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver routes out
of Nashville and Knoxville, awards by the Civil
Aeronautics Board have further expanded Pied
mont’s horizons.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania officially goes on
our map of routes served on October 25, 1978
Piedmont will inaugurate its first service into
the State of Pennsylvania from Roanoke with
two well-timed, nonstop, round-trip flights
which will be operated with Boeing 737 equip
ment. Piedmont personnel will manage the
customer service operations at Pittsburgh with
help from Northwest on the ground handling.
The Pacemakers will be replacing the service
previously offered by Eastern Air Lines in the
market.
In mid-August, the CAB gave its final ap
proval for Piedmont service to Boston, Massa
chusetts. Plans are to implement the Boston
authority on December 1 this year. Schedules,
being finalized now, will include round-trip, non
stop flights between Boston’s Logan Interna
tional Airport and Richmond and Greensboro/
High Point/Winston-Salem. The Boston facili
ties will be manned entirely by Piedmont
personnel.
The CAB announced, in mid-September, it
is also granting Piedmont’s request for au
thority to serve Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. This
award was made under the Board’s new show-
cause procedure which allows 30 days for public
comments before a final order is issued. The
inaugural date and schedules for this service
have not been finalized.
The initial schedules for DFW will include
nonstop flights from Greensboro/High Point/
Winston-Salem and Raleigh/Durham and one-
stop flights from Richmond and Norfolk.
In additiovn to PIT, BOS and DFW, the CAB
has granted exemption authority to Piedmont to
provide one round trip between Columbia and
Miami. At the same time, September 29, 1978,
the Board issued a show cause order proposing
to make Piedmont’s Columbia and Charleston
to Miami exemption authority permanent with
in 60-90 days. Plans for Columbia-Miami service
have not yet been completed.
Piedmont’s latest filing with the Board is a
request for authority to provide service to Phila
delphia. The Company is seeking nonstop
authority to PHL from Norfolk, Richmond and
Baltimore. Single-plane service is proposed from
Raleigh/Durham, Greensboro/High Point/Win
ston-Salem, Charleston (S. C.), Columbia and
Nashville.
The Company asked the CAB to award the
Philadelphia authority under its expedited show
cause procedure. Philadelphia is the leading off
line destination from the majority of cities on
Piedmont’s current system.