me pieamomm
Humor Appears
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Seie Page Two
VOL. VIII, NO. 2
, THE BEST WAY TO TRAVEL — ALL OVER PIEDMONTLAND
MARCH, 1966
Sell Yourselves
On Discovering
Your America
This is the year for all the air
lines to be pushing the “Discover
America” campaign. Maybe you
are selling it to customers, but
what about to yourself? Are
you ignoring the home sights to
see in favor of a trip to the con
tinent?
Before you submit that inter
line pass request ask yourself:
have I ever really toured my
own backyard? Am I actually
aware of what’s offered in the
way of vacation possibilities in
my own country?
Starting here with home base,
the Piedmonitor will be devoting
space in forthcoming issues de
signed to tell you about fun
places to go and exciting things
to see all over Piedmontland and
all over your country.
This year Winston-Salem is
celebrating the 200th Anniver
sary of its founding. The restora
tion projects of Old Salem are
comparable to those you’re per
haps more familiar with in Wil
liamsburg. Winston-Salem is a
city whose richly historical back
ground is a delight to visitors
all year round.
Almost in the center of North
Carolina’s famed Variety Vaca-
tionland, Winston-Salem offers
recreation facilities to suit any
taste, from baseball to art mu
seums and golf courses to sum
mer stock theater, it is a great
place to spend a week or a week
end.
Perhaps you think your own
home town might be of interest
to someone else. If so, drop a
note to the Piedmonitor and we’ll
try to tell other folks about it.
Motion Is Filed With Civil Aeronautics Board
Application To Expedite Hearing On New York
CAPTAIN COTTRELL
IS BACK HOME
Veteran pilot Lee Cottrell has
returned to Winston-Salem
where he is getting lots of rest.
Captain Cottrell has been re
cuperating in California from a
severe heart attack which he
suffered while on the west coast
in route to Hawaii. He says he
is feeling much better, but con
tinues to be quite weak.
Several days ago he was visit
ing friends at INT and took time
out for a picture. He is making
plans to retire from active flying
sometime this spring.
Robert W. Kadlec, Piedmont's Director of Research, at left, and company lawyer, William C. Burt, seem
pleased as they put the finishing touches on the hearing motion. (For story on Mr. Burt see page three.)
President Dovis Testifies For Local Service Industry
Before Senate Aviation Subcommittee In Washington
Piedmont President T. H.
Davis expressed cautious opti
mism regarding the future of
the local service airhne industry
in testimony before the Aviation
Subcommittee of the Senate
Commerce Committee in Wash
ington March 3. The Subcommit
tee, of which Senator A. S. Mike
Monroney is Chairman, is con
ducting hearings reviewing the
local service airline industry,
and Davis was invited as a wit
ness.
Davis saluted the Civil Aero
nautics Board for “a good job of
administering and regulating the
industry” and he testified that
“Congress has always been most
helpful and responsive to the
needs of the industry insofar as
Captain Tadlock, at left, with Captain Cottrell, Captains Clement and
McNames are apparently planning a trip as they welcome Lee Cottrell
home.
special legislation and appropria
tions are concerned.”
Tribute to the Board
He paid special tribute to the
CAB for the establishment of the
“Class Rate” system of subsidy
administration, which he said
must be maintained, and for the
Board’s “U s e It or Lose It”
policy.
“I am happy to be able to re
port,” Davis told the Subcommit
tee, “that every single point on
Piedmont’s system now meets
the Use It or Lose It test.” He
attributed this achievement to
the basic minimum of two round-
trip, well-timed schedules per
day for every point on our sys
tem, combined with the coopera
tive efforts of the communities
involved.
Air Taxi Solution
Davis suggested that the Air
Taxi operator, serving on a “de
mand” basis, provides the best
solution to air service for com
munities not able to meet “Use
It or Lose It” standards. He
stated that he does not regard
as a competitive problem the so-
called “Third Level” airlines,
operating without subsidy. On
the other hand, if their service
was expanded to include many
small towns and thus require
subsidy, the cost would be far
higher to the taxpayer than
would be the case if the same
service was provided by the
existing locad service airlines.
Davis, commenting on the sug
gestion that perhaps the present
local service carriers could con
tinue to provide service to “Use
It or Lose It” points at a lower
subsidy by using small six to
ten passenger aircraft, said that
“on the basis of our studies, this
is not the case.”
“The difference between the
operating cost of this type air
craft and that of an F-27, for
example, is slight in comparison
to the difference in earning
capacity.”
Subsidy Reduction Aid
Davis cited as a potential aid
in over-all subsidy reduction, a
local airline industry proposal
asking the CAB to award the
locals new route authority in
the short-haul, high density mar
kets in competition with the
truck lines, with the stipulation
that this authority should be on
a non-subsidized basis. Granting
of this type of route to the
locals in some cases may well
improve service and reduce sub
sidy, he stated, and he added
that he hopes the CAB will “pro
ceed rapidly in processing any
of these proposals that may be
submitted to them.”
Future Forecast
Summing up, Davis told the
subcommittee that the next ten
years could well be difficult ones
for the local airline industry,
primarily because of rising costs.
He cited the recent change in the
free baggage allowance, new
FAA training requirements,
spiralling airport landing fees
and rental charges, increased
catering costs, Air Travel Card
interest costs, and the installa
tion of flight recorders, DME,
transponders, cockpit voice re
corders and other devices, as
some of the factors contributing
to the increasingly high cost of
operating an airline.
“Despite the problems with
which we are confronted,” he
concluded, “I believe we can
achieve another decade of grati
fying growth, together with sub
stantially improved service to
the public at a reduced subsidy
requirement.”
Piedmont Airlines has filed
with the Civil Aeronautics
Board a motion for an expedited
hearing on its application to
serve New York City.
The application which was fil
ed in August 1965, asks for
authority to extend service from
many of the points on Pied
mont’s system direct to New
York. New service will also be
provided to Washington,
through Dulles International
Airport.
Express Benefits
The motion to expedite indi
cates that 15 airports now served
by Piedmont would be expressly
benefited by new single-plane
round trip daily service to New
York if the application were ap
proved. Cities which will re
ceive this new service are Roa
noke, Va., Lynchburg, Va., Char
lottesville, Va., Hot Springs, Va.,
Harrisonburg-Staunton-Waynes
boro, Va., Pulaski- Radford-
Blacksburg, Va., Bluefield-Prince-
ton, W. Va., Huntington, W. Va.-
Ashland, Ky., Danville, Va., Win
ston-Salem, N. C., Fayetteville-
Fort Bragg, N. C., New Bern-
Jacksonville-Camp Lejeune, N.
C., Florence, S. C., and Augusta,
Ga.
The filing by Piedmont an
swers a need expressed by var
ious cities for one-plane service
to New York, the largest air
service center in the nation. Ap
proval of the application would
also provide convenient connec
tion service to Dulles Interna
tional, the new multi-million
dollar jetport located in North
ern Virginia and serving the
nation’s capitol.
Reduce Subsidy
In the motion to expedite Pied
mont forecasts a substantial sub
sidy reduction with the granting
of the route and estimates that
95,000 passengers would use the
service during the first year of
operation to New York.
President T. H. Davis, com
menting on the motion filed to
day, said that “there is an urgent
need, and we are confident our
passengers agree, for single
plane Piedmont service connect
ing many of the communities we
serve with New York. It is be
cause of this pressing need that
we have today asked CAB to
take prompt action on our
application filed last year. With
the coming of our Boeing 737 jet
aircraft in 1968, we believe we
will be ideally equipped to pro
vide the New York service our
customers have long requested.
I hope the CAB moves rapidly
on this matter and I know our
friends in the cities we serve
support us.”
The CAB, if the motion to ex
pedite is approved, will order a
hearing soon, at which all in
terested parties will be given an
opportunity to be heard.