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VOLUME 5 “ NO. 3
PUBLISHED AND PRINTED BY PIEDMONT AVIATION, INC.
MARCH 1953
PAI VIEWS NEW GOAL AS RECORD HIGH ATTAINED
A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE OF GREATER
FORWARD STRIDES ... T. H. DAVIS
"Whatever Impedes a man and doe$n*t s fop
him, aids his progress”. I don*t know
■pi
President Tom Davis is making serious business of
cutting the anniversary cake presented him febi
20th on the fifth birthday of Piedmont Airlines.
The presentation and Informal ceremony was held In
the refreshment room of the airline hangar, atten
ded by Airline personnel.
The cake was baked and presented to Mr. Davis by
Mrs. Carl Simpson of FAY and, incidentally, was
just as delicious as It looked*
which philosopher said that but It is cer
tainly true and I believe It applies par
ticularly well to our Company. If there
has ever been a company that had as many
obstacles to overcome as did Piedmont In
starting its airline, 1 don*t know who It
would be. And, the important thing, of
course, is the fact that our progress has
been greater than any other local service
a I r I I ne •
For example, when we started in February
1948, there were already eight other local
service airlin'es in operation - some for
more than two years. They had a head start
but It wan*t long before we caught up
with them and now we*re way out In front.
Hereare the facts: The CAB has referred
to Piedmont as the largest local service
airline. Piedmont carries more passengers
than any other local service airline, we
operate more plane miles, we operate on
less mail subsidy per plane mile, we have
more employees, we operate more airplanes,
we were the first to get a seven year cer
tificate renewal, we have the highest
equipment utilization, and we are the
only one with a profit sharing plan.
All of this (plus our proven ability to
overcome obstacles when they occur) Indi
cates to me, and I think it does to you,
that we*ve got what it takes to really go
places. Obviously, we can*t get complacent
and rest on our laurels - nobody is that
good. ^e*ll have plenty of rough spots to
go over in the road ahead. Let's take a
glimpse down that road.
The first order of business is to really
whip Into shape our overall operation so
that we can fully realize the potential
benefits of the new routes. ^ith these
routes we now have one of the best little
route systems in the country. To make the
most of this, we have to straighten out a
lot of kinks that have crept in with our
growing pains. As discussed In our last
It
iedmonitor, operations in al
respects
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