Time to eat
Some squirrels have to spend a lot of time searching for food. Othsrs, like this one
who lives in Roanoke's Elmwood Park, are luckier. Every morning about 7:30 he heads
down Jefferson Street to Piedmont's City Ticket Office. He scratches on the door and
agent Virginia Price comes out with some nuts for him. After he has eaten
a few of the goodies he scurries back to the park with the leftovers, maybe to hide
them for the week-end when the CTO is closed.
February/March, 1976
Vol. XXVII, No. 2
Stockholders elect new director, approve stock purchase plan
The stockholders elected a new director of
Piedmont Aviation, Inc. at their annual meet
ing on Apil 21,1976.
Maurice H. Winger, Jr. became the 12th
member of Piedmont’s Board. He is President
of the American Enka Company.
A graduate of William Jewell College and
the law school of Duke University, Winger
is a native of Kansas City, Missouri. He now
lives in Biltmore, North Carolina.
Winger has been president of Enka since
1970. He is a member of the board of directors
of Akzona Incorporated and was recently ap
pointed chairman of the executive advisory
committee of the Man-Made Fiber Producers
Association. He is a past chairman of the board
of Asheville Country Day School and a former
president of Western Carolina Manufacturers
Association and the Asheville Art Museum.
He is also on the board of trustees of the Uni
versity of North Carolina at Asheville.
The stockholders also approved a proposal
adopted by the Company’s Board of Directors
for an employee qualified stock purchase plan.
All full time employees with two years of
continuous service are eligible to participate in
the Plan. It is designed to provide Piedmont’s
employees with an opportunity to share in the
Company’s future success.
Basically, the Plan allows employees to buy
Piedmont stock at 85 per cent of the fair market
value as of April 21, 1976. Employees may in
vest up to 10 per cent of their 1975 gross earn
ings or $2500, whichever is less. Payment will
be only through payroll deductions and will be
spread over a 24 month period starting June
1 of this year.
Employees may withdraw from the Plan at
any time. Should they elect to do so, the Com
pany will refund contributions plus 6 per cent
annual interest. The Company has set aside
250,000 shares of stock for this Plan.
The full details of the Plan and enrollment
instructions are being sent to all employees.
Any questions should be directed to the Em
ployee Relations Department, INT - 230.
Firsi quarter traffic showed increases
Maurice H. Winger
The airline division’s traffic figures for the
first quarter of 1976 showed substantial in
creases over the same period last year.
Revenue passenger miles were up 9 per
cent through March, from 220,816,564 in 1975 to
240,971,891 this year.
The passenger load factor for the three-
month period was 46 per cent this year as com
pared to 42 per cent in 1975.
Passenger boardings were up 8 per cent for
the first quarter, from 763,740 last year to
826,266 at the end of March, 1976.
In announcing the first quarter traffic re
sults, Senior Vice President K. E. Ross said,
“The first three months of the year are tradi
tionally the weakest in our traffic picture. We
are encouraged by the significant improvement
shown in this area during January, February
and March this year as compared to early 1975.
We expect this trend to continue to improve as
we go into our peak travel season.”
Traffic and sales now customer services and marketing
The recently announced realignment of the
airline traffic and sales departments involved
several changes in responsibility as well as
organizational line-up. The new appointments
are as follows:
• W. G. McGee is now Vice President - Mar
keting. He heads the redesignated marketing
department. Consistent with this concept, the
Director - Tariffs and the Director - Schedules
will now report to McGee. S. C. Folger is now
Assistant Vice President - Marketing. He con
tinues to report to McGee. He will be responsi
ble for all field sales personnel, the pass bureau
and charter, agency, group and convention
sales.
E. T. Best’s new title is Vice President -
Passenger Services. He reports to Senior Vice
President K. E. Ross. Best has assumed the
additional responsibilities for the flight atten
dant group and related activities. This joins
organizationally the two major groups of em
ployees who have direct passenger contact. This
change also frees the marketing department
from that supervisory responsibility so that full
attention can be given to the new marketing
concept.
A new position, Director - Marketing and
Customer Services Budget Control has been
filled by H. L. Warner. He will assist in budget
control matters as well as assigned special pro
jects. Warner will report to Ross.
J. L. Martin has been named Director of In
flight Services. He will report to Best. The
Manager - Flight Attendant Training, Division
Chief Flight Attendants and A. L. Huddleston,
whose title is redesignated Manager of Inflight
Services Administration, will report to J. L.
Martin.
P. D. Van Duser has been promoted to the
position of Manager of Catering Services. He
also reports to J. L. Martin. His increased re
sponsibilities include all employee food services.
D. M. Shanks’ new title is Assistant Vice
President - Customer Relations. Manager -
Customer Relations T. L. Martin now reports
to Shanks. T. L. Martin will also assist in custo
mer complaint activities.
T. R. Cowen has been appointed Director of
Customer Relations Administration. He con
tinues to report to Shanks.
W. S. Ryczek is now General Manager of Res
ervations, reporting to Shanks. He has the
full responsibility for all reservations activities.
The new Marketing and Customer Services
Departments continue to be the responsibility
of Senior Vice President K. E. Ross.
In making the realignment announcement
Ross said “With the many problems confront
ing the airline industry now and in the future,
it is essential that Piedmont aggressively pur
sue every opportunity for increased revenues
and improved profitability. The Company is
actively seeking new routes, however, it is
equally important that a concerted effort be
made to maximize the opportunities which now
exist within our present system. These organiza
tional realignments and personnel appointments
are designed to better facilitate that effort.
Essentially, a “Total Marketing Concept” is
being introduced and under the leadership of
the new Marketing Department, it is hoped that
this concept will result in the active particina-
tion of each and every Piedmont employee. The
objective of a marketing concept is to provide
profits through customer satisfaction as con
trasted to a sales concept which is aimed to
wards profits through sales volume.”
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