THE piEomonim
Interesting Interlining
See Page Four
VOL. X, NO. 5
194B. — CELEBRATING OUR TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY — 1968
MAY, 1968
First YS-11 Is Delivered and Put Into Service
II
The Cherry Blossom Pacemaker arrives at last.
SHOULD EVERY
FLIGHT be met
with roses
for the captain?
Certainly, if it is
a "first" tight!
Captain Lloyd
Lyons, (left) Miss
Junko Tatsuno
and H. M.
Cartwright seem
to think its a
good idea.
i
p
Sheri C Folger Is Promoted
To General Sales Manager
Sheri C. Folger has been named
General Sales Manager for the
Company’s commercial airline di
vision and its ten-state system.
In announcing the advancement,
to be effective immediately, W. G.
McGee, vice president-sales, added
that Folger will continue to handle
the overall development of the air
line’s various sales programs, as
well as assume responsibility for
the guidance of in-flight services.
A twenty-year veteran with Pied
mont, Folger joined the airline di
vision as an agent in Lexington,
Ky., and became station manager
in 1950. He transferred to Washing
ton, D. C., in 1955 as city sales
manager and was elevated to dis
trict sales manager three years
later. In 1961, he was promoted to
assistant general sales manager
and assigned to the firm’s home
office in Winston-Salem.
Presently, Folger is chairman of
the interline committee for region
al carriers. He is a native of
Lexington, Ky., and attended the
University of Kentucky.
Folger resides with his wife, the
former Shirley Anderson of Lewis-
town, Montana, and their two
daughters on Grandview Club Rd.,
Rural Rt. 1, Pfafftown, N. C.
SHERL FOLGER
General Sales Manager
Davis Reports
To Stockholders
On First Quarter
Total revenues for the three
months ended March 31, 1968
amounted to $12,474,207, compared
with $11,967,264 last year, an in
crease of 4%.
Despite this increase in revenues,
we suffered a loss of $370,502 com
pared with a profit of $141,802 in
the first quarter of 1967.
This condition of increasing busi
ness but decreasing profits is al
most universal in the airline in
dustry today.
In Piedmont’s case, there were
several major causes of this un
satisfactory result. For example,
employment costs increased $763,-
419 or 17%. Airport landing fees
and rents were up $85,720 or 40%.
Prices of fuel and almost all other
materials and supplies have in
creased. Depreciation expense in
creased 91% to $799,008. Interest
expense is up 153% to $377,385.
Even though commercial revenues
of the Airline Division were up
19%, we would have had an even
greater increase had it not been
for unusually adverse weather
in January and February.
The Company’s first YS-11 went
into service on Sunday morning
May 19th, following delivery three
days earlier.
The Cherry Blossom Pacemaker
arrived at Smith Reynolds Airport
from Ft. Worth where it had under
gone installation of a Category II
instrument landing system and cer
tain electronic modifications. This
is the first of ten of the sixty
passenger YS-ll’s which Piedmont
has ordered.
In Command
Piloting the plane home from
Ft. Worth was Captain Lloyd Lyons
and Co-pilot Gerald Lee. Vice
President Maintenance and Engi
neering H. M. Cartwright and Sen
ior Mechanic Harold Sage also re
turned home on the delivery flight.
A crowd of about fifty people was
on hand to welcome the new plane.
Miss Junko Tatsuno of Osaka,
Japan presented long stemmed red
roses to Captain Lyons and Mr.
Cartwright on behalf of Nihon.
During the days following de
livery, prior to being put into ser
vice the plane was involved with
FAA proving runs, training flights
for crews and the evacuation tests
which were completed in record
time.
Pre-Arrival Party
In observance of the delivery of
the first YS-11 prop-jet airliner.
President Davis was host to Nihon
Executive Vice President A. Miya
moto at a pre-arrival dinner the
week before.
Dignitaries present at the dinner
included S. Yoshihawa, Councillor,
Embassy of Japan, N. Y., T.
Hiraboyashi, First Secretary,
Embassy of Japan, Washington,
D. C., Robert T. Murphy, Vice
Chairman, Civil Aeronautics Board,
Washington, D. C. and Arthur B.
Simpson, Vice President-Engineer-
ing, Rolls Royce, Ltd., Montreal,
as well as other Nihon associates.
Rolls Royce representatives and
Piedmont company officers.
Noting the forthcoming delivery.
President Davis remarked: “The
aircraft’s arrival will be a
momentous occasion for Pied
mont and a very significant day for
a large portion of the United
States. This first YS-11 Pacemaker
and the others that are scheduled
to follow, will assure the finest
possible jet service to many of the
cities and communities served by
Piedmont. Offering the ultimate
in comfort for our passengers and
continued profitable returns to our
shareholders, the YS-11 is the
modern jet-powered aircraft we
sorely needed to replace our piston-
engined Martin 404’s. It has been
our policy over the years to pro
vide service to all of our cities —
the largest to the smallest, whether
on the coast or in the mountains —
with the most modern, comfortable
and efficient aircraft available. It
has also been Piedmont’s policy to
do this without making it necessary
for the cities we serve to raise
large amounts of money to expand
their airports, for Piedmont serves
more cities with relatively small
airports, especially in mountainous
terrain, than any other regional
airline.”
Comfort and Availability
“The YS-11 is the only modern
aircraft available today that offers
spacious passenger comfort, in
addition to being able to operate
out of many of our small mountain
ous airports under a full load and
still cruise at relatively high speed.
We anxiously await the delivery of
nine additional YS-ll’s to offer this
modern Pacemaker service to the
majority of cities in Piedmont-
land,” he said.
Cities receiving the first YS-11
prop jet service include Danville,
Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Staun
ton and Roanoke, Tri Cities, Knox
ville, Winston-Salem, and Washing
ton.
Two additional YS-11 Pacemak
ers will be delivered early in June
and placed into passenger service
the same month. The remaining
seven are anticipated to be de
livered throughout the summer
with all ten scheduled into service
by October.
a
GREETING THE FIRST GUEST tor the pre-arrival party. President Davis
is shown here with Civil Aeronautics Board Vice Chairman Robert T.
Murphy who came down for the festivities.