ms piEomaniTon
STRIKE BOUND
CELEBRITY FLYS PAI
See Page Two
VOL. VIII, NO. 7
THE B£5T WAY TO TRAVEL — ALL OVER PIEDMONTLAND
JULY, 1966
Broken Records
Equal New Highs
In Traffic Volume
Piedmont has closed out the
first six months of this year
with all time high records in
volume of traffic.
From January through June,
1966, Piedmont carried 750,755
passengers. This represents a
^27.11 per cent increase over the
*'(;ame period in 1965 when 590,616
Dassengers flew the Pacemakers.
June, 1966 was the fourth con
secutive month during which
Piedmont broke all previous
boarding records. There were
152,003 passengers flying Pied
mont in June representing an in
crease of 32.5 per cent over the
same month last year.
Revenue passenger miles in
creased 37.21 per cent over June,
1965, with 35,070,682 miles flown
this past month.
Piedmont’s load factor for the
month of June, 1966 was the
highest of all the local service
carriers and one of the highest
in the industry at 63.24 per cent.
Beginning the second six
month period Piedmont also set
an all time record high for the
number of passengers carried
during one twenty-four hour per
iod. On July 1, 5,927 passengers
boarded Piedmont flights. The
previous record day had been
set on June 10, 1966 when 5,838
passengers were boarded.
Board Acts
Sbow-Cause Order Is
Issued on N.Y. Application
The Civil Aeronautics Board issued a show-cause order tenta
tively approving Piedmont Airlines’ application to serve New York
City, on July 6th. The show-cause order gives all interested parties
until July 26 in which to file comments relative to the Board’s
proposed action. In the absence
No rest for the weary in reservations.
Strike Plagues Unstruck Too
The Reservations phones ring
incessantly. The main switch
board looks like a theater
marquee on premier night. The
teletypes across the system
clatter with very few, very brief
pauses. Weary hands tear, sort
and record its messages.
Five major airlines are strik
ing. All other airlines are swamp
ed.
Many folks say it’s a disaster.
Those who have time, agree.
Everyone else is working.
Cigarettes burn up in ash
trays. Cups of coffee get cold.
Voices get weaker and give out,
almost.
Negotiators meet. Without re
portable progress, they recess.
Nev/spaper reporters cal).
“Yes, we’re doing all we can.”
Emergency schedules are
drawn up. They are effective im
mediately.
It’s Saturday, then Sunday.
Management personnel work
Space Control in shifts. Regular
res agents rest, for a little while.
Additional telephones are in
stalled. Simultaneously they
start ringing.
“You’ll just have to come out
and stand by, sir. That’s all we
can tell you.”
The strikers are pitching, for
more money, longer vacations,
living expenses.
The non-strikers are at the
bottom of the ninth day.
They’re wondering how many
inning? this game will have.
Personnel Changes
of objections to the application,
the CAB would immediately au
thorize the service, thus elimi
nating the necessity for a Board
hearing.
President T. H. Davis, in com
menting on the new develop
ment, called it “extremely prom
ising” and “one of the greatest
developments in the history of
the company.”
“The order reflects the wisdom
and understanding of the CAB
as to the great public need for
this service. The show-cause or
der can eliminate the need for
lengthy hearings on this impor
tant matter and make it possible
for us to begin the new service
within sixty to niety days. We
are highly gratified by this sig
nificant CAB action.”
Piedmont filed its application
to serve New York in August of
last year. The application speci
fied a route extending beyond
Roanoke, Va., Lynchburg, Va.,
Charlottesville, Va., Hot Springs,
Va., and Harrisonburg-Staunton-
Waynesboro, Va., to New York
via Dulles International Airport,
the multimillion dollar jet-port
serving Washington, D. C.
In March of this year. Pied
mont was joined by 15 com
munities to be expressly bene
fited by new single-plane ser
vice to New York, in filing with
the CAB a motion for an ex
pedited hearing on its applica
tion.
Major Shifts Among Station Managers
Louisville Station Manager
Reggie Powell has been named
Station Manager for Atlanta. A
native of Aulander, North Caro
lina, Powell is a graduate of
Maury High School in Norfolk.
He also attended the University
of California Extension in Toyko,
Japan.
Following his service with the
Air Force Powell was employed
by Piedmont in 1951 as a flight
purser. In 1952 he became an
agent in Norfolk where he was
promoted to Chief Agent in 1955.
Powell was named Station Man
ager for Elizabeth City in 1962.
The following year he was pro
moted to Station Manager for
Louisville.
Powell is married to the form
er Lois Rice of Norfolk. They
have a son and a daughter.
Powell’s civic activities include
past membership in the Masonic
Order, Corinthian Lodge, Audu-
Vize Dotson
bon Kiwanis Club, and former
Boy Scout troop leader.
Art Whittaker
Norfolk Station Manager Ar
thur M. Whittaker has been pro
moted to Station Manager for
Roanoke. Whittaker is a native
of Princeton, West Virginia. He
is a graduate of Victoria High
School, Victoria, Virginia. A
former railroad worker, Whit
taker got his first taste of avia
tion during military service in
Naval Aviation between 1943-47.
Following his military career
he was employed by flying serv-
ive at Woodrum Field in Roa
noke. In 1948 Whittaker went to
work for Piedmont as an agent
at Roanoke. He was promoted to
Chief Agent in 1950 and subse
quently transferred to Norfolk
in 1951 as Station Manager.
Whittaker is married to the
former Claudine Clark of Roa
noke. They have a son and two
daughters.
Wallace Kerr
While in Norfolk Whittaker
has been president of the Little
Creek Lions Club. He has served
on the Board of Directors of the
Tidewater Association for Re
tarded Children and for the past
five years he has been secretary
of the Norfolk Airport Fire and
Rescue Squad.
The Whittaker family will
move to Roanoke in August.
Wallace Kerr
W. H. Kerr, Station Manager
for Columbus, will take over
Whittaker’s position in Norfolk.
Kerr is a native of Durham,
North Carolina. His formal edu
cation was received in the public
schools of that city. Following
his military service with the
Army during World War II Kerr
was employed by Capitol Air
lines.
Hired by Piedmont as an agent
at Raleigh-Durham in 1953, Kerr
was promoted to Lead Agent in
1960. He became Assistant Man-
Torn Crouch
Reggie Powell
ager at Roanoke in 1962 and was
promoted to Columbus’ Station
Manager the following year.
Kerr is married to the former
Evelyn Tunstall of Oxford, North
Carolina. They have two daugh
ters and a son.
An active member of the Vet
erans of Foreign Wars, Kerr has
held numerous offices in that or
ganization.
Vize Dotson
Parkersburg - Marietta Station
Manager Vize Dotson has been
named to replace Kerr at Colum
bus. A native of Harlan, Ken
tucky, Dotson is a graduate of
Bowling Green Business College
and the Central Airline School
in Kansas City, Missouri.
Art Whittaker
Employed by Piedmont as an
agent at New Bern in 1949, Dot
son has served at a number of
Piedmont’s stations. He was lead
agent in Lexington, Kentucky,
before being named Station Man
ager for London-Corbin in 1955.
From 1959 to 1962 Dotson served
as Station Manager in Bluefield-
Princeton. He transferred to
Parkersburg - Marietta in the
same capacity in 1962.
Mrs. Dotson is the former Wil
ma Jean Phelps of Bowling
Green. They have two children.
Dotson is a member of the
Parkersburg and Marietta Cham
ber of Commerce and the Mid-
Ohio Valley Traffic Club.
(Continued on Page Three)
Eddie Jones
Milt Ward