May 1985
volume 36, number 4
News about Piedmont. The Up-And-Coming Airline.
New seats give 737-200 fleet fresh look
By late fall, our fleet of 737-200s
will have interiors as modern as
our new 737-300's.
All 63 737-200s are being out
fitted with brand new seats in a
color scheme similar to the new
300’s and brand new state-of-the-
art seats as well. The new look
will also add 378 more seats in
our existing fleet with no sacrifice
of customer comfort. It is a major
undertaking — for Maintenance
and Engineering, in particular —
but one that will pay for itself in
the long run.
"We were faced with major over
haul expenses on the older seats
currently installed on 42 of our
737-200s,” Gordon Bethune,
senior vice president-operations,
said.
“Tventy-one of our 737s al
ready had the new, lightweight
seats, but we had not added
another row in these aircraft be
cause we did not want two differ
ent seating configurations for the
same aircraft."
Additionally, the FAA also has
recently issued a new regulation
requiring airlines to provide addi
tional fircblocking protection to
all aircraft seats.
"By 1988, all foam cushions
must be enclosed in a new protec
tive fabric which is being put be
tween the foam and the outer
material,” Ed Shockley, director-
engineering, said. “We are one of
the first airlines in the industry to
comply with the fircblocking
regulation since all of our new
737-300s are being delivered with
this protective material installed.
This major licet modification on
the 737-200s gives us the oppor
tunity to add the new fabric and
new cushions as well on these
aircraft.”
Bethune added: “When we
looked at all these factors, we de
termined we could best meet all of
our needs by changing the interi
ors on the entire fleet.”
benefits
The benefits will be numerous.
Because the new Fairchild Burns
seats weigh considerably less
than the older model, we will save,
on an annual basis, $200,000 in
fuel costs even though we’re
adding more seats.
And the new seats are less
bulky than their predecessors, so
without changing the seating
comfort or pitch, another row or
six more seats can be added to
each aircraft.
“The interiors will have a more
pleasing look," Bethune said.
“The new seats require different
covers so we decided it’s an oppor
tune time to update the interiors
as well. We couldn’t use the red,
white, and blue motif we’re put
ting on the 737-300S because that
would have required replacing tlic
present beige side and overhead
panels with white panels, and the
cost would have been prohibitive.
"But we’re using more contem
porary fabrics and colors on both
the seats and the lloor to give the
interiors a more updated look.”
continued page 5
Avionics Foreman R.W. Wood, credit cards in a slot by the phone
INT, checks out one of theair-to- then take the phone to their seats
ground telephones he helped in- to make calls. The cost is $7.50for
stall on our long-range 727-200s three minutes,
recently. Not only do the telephones
Ten airlines are now flying with provide us with another service
telephones provided by Airfone, for passengers, the system is
Inc., a company based in Chica- revenue-producing. Piedmont
go. The air-to-ground service was receives a percentage of the
launched last October and use revenue based on the total num-
has risen to more than 4,000 calls ber of calls per aircraft,
a day. Passengers can insert their
AA, People Express head
Rush to compete with PI
“The Competitors are coming!
The Competitors are . . .”
As a matter of fact, the Compe
titors aren’t just coming — they’re
here!
In recent months, here are some
examples of new competition
we’ve seen added against our sys
tem and some new services we ex
pect to see before the end of 1985:
AMERICAN AIRLINES — Al
ready in the Charlotte,
Charleston, S.C., Columbia,
Greenville/Spartanburg, Greens
boro/High Point/Winston-Salem,
Fayetteville, and Raleigh/Durham
markets, American has also an
nounced that they are coming to
Richmond and Norfolk soon. We
would not be suprised to see them
return to Dayton.
PEOPLE EXPRESS — Already
in C'V^G, GSO, and CAE markets,
they have announced intentions
to begin service to CLT, RDU, and
DAY later this year, and perhaps
service from North Carolina to
Florida as well.
UNITED AIRLINES — In addi
tion to its prior presence at CLT,
RDU, and GSO, United has ex
panded into SAV, CAE, GSP, CRW,
and LEX.
That’s a lot, but there’s more.
Our long-time major competitors.
Eastern and Delta, have also been
entering into agreements with
commuters. ASA, Eastern Metro,
and Atlantis have all tied into the
hubs of these trunks at Atlanta or
Charlotte offering single carrier
code service in competition with
Piedmont. Air Virginia has also
tied into the American Eagle
system.
And Pan Am, if its proposed
sale of its Pacific routes and assets
goes through as expected, has al
ready announced its intentions,
that is to become a major factor in
the eastern third of the United
States, right across Piedmont’s
strength. A Dulles hub would be
at the center of this system.
While quiet about it, USAir has
been building a new hub, small
but highly-competitive with our
Baltimore/Washington hub, at
Philadelphia. Four times a day
USAir has banks of seven aircraft
on the ground simultaneously,
continued page 3
Special Bulletin
Piedmont will delay entry
into White Plains, scheduled
for June 1, indefinitely. In
stead, we will begin service
to Worcester, MA, on the
June 1 schedule. See page 3
for details.