Newspapers / Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter / Aug. 1, 1985, edition 1 / Page 6
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6 Piedmont 8m^';iTMji;!?ii;.jiW! Friday the 13th will bean exciting day for Piedmont in September. On that day. we will "cutover" to our new computer center at Madison Park in Winston-Salem, and by noon the next day. our new computer reservations system will be in operation. Helen Cashwell, manager-computer operations reservations systems, shows off the new tape library system at the center. The library will initially have a total of 5700 tapes which will store all our reservations data. Piedmont has been tied in to Eastern's computer reservations center in Miami since 1975. The growth the airline has experienced since deregulation of the in dustry has made it practical for us to open our own computer facility. 7td Celentino. vice president-computer and communications services, is in charge of the new center interlining Orlando The Radisson Inn & Justus Aquatic Center offers rooms for $30/night (single or double) on a space available basis. Use of Aquatic Center extra. TVansportation to and from Disney World is $6/person. Reservations can be made by calling 800/752-0003. Rate good through 12/15/85. Miami The Viscount Hotel (5301 N.W. 36th St., Miami 33166) has rooms for $38/night, single or double, through 12/85. Con venient to airport and includes pool, tennis and racquetball courts, jogging trails. Call 800/255-3050 for reservations. Fort Lauderdale The Fort Lauderdale Marriott Hotel and Marina, located on the Intracoastal Water way, has rooms for $45/night, single or double, through 10/5/85. From 10/5 to 1/11, rate is $50. Call 800/228-9290. Lake Buena Vista Walt Disney World Resort Hotel, Villa or Travel Trailer offers interliners 50% off regular rates through 2/1 (excluding Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's holi day periods). Accommodations begin as low as $52.50/night. Price includes dis count on 2-day and 3-day World Passports to the Magic Kingdom Park and Epcot Center, if purchased in conjunction with your room reservations. For reservations and special ticket information, contact Walt Disney World Special Programs, 305/827-7200. Be sure to identify your self as a Disney Participant Company employee. Cruises International Interline, Inc. offers dis counts during Sept. and Oct. on 3- and 4-day cruises from Miami aboard Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival beginning at $ 165/person: 7-day cruises begin at $669/person. Call 800/824-6330 or write 58005 Blue Lagoon Drive, Suite 312, Miami, FL 33126. Interline Representatives. Ltd. offers 7-day cruises of Caribbean, Panama Canal and South America beginning at $589. Sails from Montego Bay 11/17/85 through 4/20/86. Employees, spouses, dependent children, parents and retirees ehgible. Op tional positive space air also available. Call 800/828-0046 or write 25 West 39th St., New York, NY 10018. Best Interline Tours has 7-day cruise from New York to Bermuda beginning at $537/person through 10/12/85. Many other cruises available. Call 800/334-1767 or write P.O. Box 88956, Atlanta, GA 30356-8956. Interline Value Vacations offers 7-day cruises to the Caribbean from Miami for $490/person. Many other cruises available. Call 800/421-2261 or write 8921 So. Sepulveda Blvd.. Los Angeles, CA 90043. Acadimos Tours Interliners has 7-day cruises to Acapulco from Los Angeles be ginning at $469/person. Cruises available to Bahamas, Bermuda, Alaska, and to European ports. Many tours also available. Call 718/424-5105 or write 410 Central Park West, New York, NY 10025. Brazil 10-day Rio Beach holiday available through Ventures Extraordinaire. Inc. for $650/person. Departures in Sept. & Oct. Package includes positive space on Japan Airlines from LAX, transfers to and from airport, hotel accommodations at the Rio Sheraton, breakfast daily, dinner and samba show. Call 415/592-2629 or write 940 Emmett Ave., Suite 12. Belmont, CA 94002. Holland Interline Holiday offers 8-day tour to Hol land. departing 9/30/85 for $625/person/ double occupancy. Package includes positive air from New York. 3 meals daily, first-class hotels, transfers, other. Call 718/366-9026 or write P.O. Box 3445. Flushing. NY 11386. Canada 3- and 4-night tours to Montreal. Quebec City. Tbronto. and Vancouver from Air Canada's U.S. gateways from $299/person. Includes space available air. hotel, sight seeing. some meals. Call Interline Representatives, Ltd., 800/828-0046. Caribbean International Tl^vel Representatives has special rates for interliners at many island resorts including Veques Island (Puerto Rico), St. Kitts, St. Croix, Jamaica, St. Maarten. Call 212/840-0725 or write 25 West 39th St., New York, NY 10018. Building a better airline The following letter from Piedmont President and Chief Execu tive Officer Bill Howard will appear in the October issue of PACE Magazine: Recent years have been exceedingly good to Piedmont Airlines and our 14.000 employees. Our growth and successes have earned a great deal of admiration from industry analysts, passengers and even our competitors. Wejust reported the most profitable first six months of any similar period in our corporate histo ry and we take a great deal of pride in our "Airline of the Year" award from Air Transport World Magazine. In addition, our rapidly-growing new fieet of Boeing 737-300 aircraft, the most advanced passenger Jet in the world, gives us a new flagship for one of the industry's most modern Jet fleets. Tb topitalloff when the United States Department of Transportation recently announced complaint figures it compiled during 1984. Piedmont ranked first in fewest complaints to the government from its passengers. Our fme men and women have done such an outstanding Job over the years that it did not come as a great surprise — after all. we had fimished second in the previous two years. But it was happily received news, nonetheless. I know some of our passengers earlier this year may have seen a competitor airline's advertising boasting that it had the fewest complaints. So, lest my mail bag be filled with challenges, let me explain why two airlines are claiming to be Number One. At the end of calendar 1984, the government issued "flash" figures, which placed Piedmont second. The data was based on the actual number of com plaints received for the calendar year, but compared against a base of pas sengers for the 12 months from November. 1983 to November, 1984. December 1984’s actual traffic figures for the industry were not yet available. When that information was received, Piedmont's dynamic passenger growth changed the ratio of complaints per 100,000 passengers Just enough to tip the scales in our favor. Now, we want to take this seriously, but not so seriously that we have any reasons to cast stones at our competitors. We simply want to take comfort in the fact that this record indicates we have built notjust a bigger airline, but a better airline. It means that our men and women are doing as good a Job for their cus tomers as those of any other airline, and probably a bit better than most It's also a time to reflect upon how we got where we are. After all. as pleased as we are to finish first it's also sobering to realize that there's Just one direction you can go from first So perhaps all of us at Piedmont need to take a careful look at what we did to get here, and dedicate ourselves to remembering how to keep doing it in the future. We got here by caring —by a reservations agent remembering to volunteer the best service and fare available, even if sometimes it was on a competitive airline. We got here by taking extra care of a child going to summer camp alone, perhaps the child’s first time ever away from home alone. We got here by doing myriad little things, like being the first airline to give you a full can of sc^t drink when you were thirsty, instead of a piddling three-ounce cup, including ice. We got here by remembering that hot towels are still a refreshing touch at the end of a 90-minute fiight. We got here by getting you where you need to go as swiftly as possible, and by bringing our planes to your airport, instead of expecting you to drive to meet us. We got here by giving you a clean airplane, with afresh coat of paint that says we care a lot about both the passengers wefiy, and the machines we use. We got here by caring that your baggage arrives with you, by investing in a billion dollars worth of facilities and equipment we needed to give you the best possible service. We must not forget that being Number One is not being perfect We still have room to improve. Number One doesn’t mean perfect, it Just means as good as anybody else, and perhaps a slight cut above most others. And it means 14,000 Piedmont employees are a little prouder, too. On behalf of them, thank you for flying with us today — in the past and, hopefully, often in the future. William R. Howard President and Chief Executive Officer PI commuter system to grow On November 1, two more commuter airlines will be flying Piedmont colors. Jetstream International Airlines, based in Erie, PA. and Britt Airways, which operates out ofTferre Haute, IN, will join Sunbird Airlines as part of the Piedmont commuter system. “Under the joint program, Jetstream and Britt will operate as 'Piedmont Com muter' carriers and will use the Piedmont Commuter insignia and colors," Bill Howard, president and chief executive officer, said. “Both Jetstream and Britt and the cities these airlines serve will benefit through scheduling arrangements that can only make flying more convenient for travelers," he said. Through the new arrangement with these commuters, there will be joint mar keting, advertising and sales promotions between the carriers, and Piedmont will also provide administrative support. We will also provide all reservations services, share our two-letter reservations code, and include the carriers in our flight shedules. Piedmont's reservations centers will be gin accepting Jetstream and Britt reserva tions on September 30. Jetstream will give passengers the benefits of fast connecting flights to major destinations at our DAY and BWI hubs. The airline also operates flights to ORD, CLE, DTW, EWR, PHL, PIT, Youngstown, and Erie. Jetstream operates a fleet of six British Aerospace Jetstream 31’s that seat 18 passengers each. Britt Airways will link service with our flights at DAY. The carrier serves 27 desti nations in the Midwest, and will initially provide service to DAY from four of these destinations: Muncie and Lafayette, IN: Detroit: and Cleveland. We will handle reservations and include the flight sched ules in our timetable for these four desti nations only. Britt operates a fleet of two BAC 111 s that seat 78 passengers each, 17 Fairchild FH227's that seat 48 each, 17 Metro ll's that seat 18 each, and 12 Beechcraft B99's that seat 15 each.
Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter
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Aug. 1, 1985, edition 1
6
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