Traffic and earnings growth continues
The Company’s strong traffic and earnings
growth continued through the third quarter,
leading Senior Vice President T. W. Morton to
predict that 1979 will be the best year in Pied
mont’s history.
Revenue passenger miles were up 32.5 per
cent for the July-through-September period,
from 399,294,307 in 1978 to 528,850,415 this
year.
Ad agency change
coming in January
Piedmont will start the new year with a
new advertising agency. Vice President-Market
ing William G. McGee has announced the ap
pointment, effective January 1, 1980, of Mc
Kinney Silver & Rockett.
McGee said “Times and needs change. With
the new marketing requirements and opportuni
ties brought about by deregulation, Piedmont
is positioning itself to take full advantage of
this new and more-competitive environment.
Our choice of McKinney Silver & Rockett was
based on the quality and diversity of their ideas
about our business and the professionalism
demonstrated by their people.”
The Company’s advertising account was
formerly held by Liller Neal Weltin, Inc. of
Atlanta.
The McKinney firm, headquartered in
Raleigh, North Carolina, has received many
creative awards in national competition. The
company’s current client roster includes
General Mills, Beatrice Foods, Sperry and
Hutchinson, and Studebaker-Worthington.
Passenger boardings rose 17 percent for the
three months, from 1,265,751 last year to
1,482,018 at the end of September, 1979. The
middle month of the third quarter, August,
stands as the all-time-high month for pas
senger boardings. The airline carried a total of
536,751 passengers during August, 1979.
The passenger load factor for the July-
through-September period was 58.57 percent
this year as compared to 58.97 percent in the
same months last year.
During the first nine months of 1979,
revenue passenger miles increased 36.5 percent,
from 1,051,631,102 last year to 1,436,042,140
this year.
Year-to-date passenger boardings totaled
4,154,480, up 22.9 percent from the 3,380,417
carried in the comparable months of 1978.
The passenger load factor for January-
through-September, 1979 was 58.41 percent.
In the same period last year it was 54.92 per
cent.
Senior Vice President W. R. Howard an
nounced the traffic figures the second week in
October. The earnings were released later in
the month.
Piedmont Aviation, Inc. had third-quarter
earnings of $4,980,000, or $1.58 per share. This
is an increase of 81.4 percent over third-quarter
1978 earnings of $2,746,000, or 96 cents per
share.
Gross revenues rose 41.9 percent from $70.8
million in the third quarter of last year to
$100.5 million this year. Costs and expenses
were $92.4 million for the July-through-Sep
tember period this year, up 36.1 percent from
$67.9 million in the comparable period of 1978.
Sharp, Me AI phi n are new officers
The airline flight operations and scheduling
departments are operating under the direction
of newly-appointed officers.
Captain Gene F. Sharp is new staff vice
president-flight operations. He replaces Vice
President W. 0. Tadlock who retired in August.
A native of Middlesboro, Kentucky, Sharp
joined the Company as a pilot in 1961. He was
later promoted to division chief pilot at the
Knoxville base. Sharp moved to corporate
headquarters in 1976 for management training
assignments in several departments of the
airline division. He was named director of flight
operations in 1978.
Sharp majored in engineering and business
administration at Carson Newman College and
the University of Tennessee. In addition, he
currently is a candidate for a Bachelor of
Science degree in management from the Uni
versity of Alabama.
Sharp is married to the former Catherine
Bible of Morristown, Tennessee. They have
three sons and a daughter.
Robert L. McAlphin is Piedmont’s first staff
assistant vice president-schedules.
Originally from St. Paul, North Carolina, he
has been with the Company since 1955. Mc
Alphin started as an agent in Charlotte, North
Carolina. He moved to Winston-Salem as man
ager of reservations and space control in 1960.
Since 1964, he has been director of schedules.
McAlphin was a staff sergeant in the U. S.
Air Force prior to joining Piedmont. He grad
uated from the public schools in Stedman, North
Carolina, attended the National School of Aero
nautics in Kansas City and also took courses
from U.C.L.A. during his military service in
Korea.
Mrs. McAlphin is the former Jo Ann Horne
of Stedman. They have three daughters and
two sons.
G. F. Sharp Staff
Vice President—
Flight
Operations
R. L. McAlphin
Staff Assistant
Vice President—
Airline
Scheduling
During the first nine months of 1979, the
Company had net income of $10,348,000, up
128.7 percent from $4,525,000 in the same
period last year.
Gross revenues for the nine months were
up 33.2 percent to $260.9 million from $195.8
million during the same months of 1978.
Costs and expenses rose 28.7 percent
through September this year to $244.4 million.
For the first nine months of 1978, costs and
expenses totaled $189.9 million.
The Airline Division earned $6,520,904 be
fore taxes for the third quarter of 1979. The
General Aviation Group and other operations
had pretax earnings of $1,571,575 in the July-
through-September period. For the same period
of 1978, the Airline Division posted a pretax
profit of $2,086,057. Other operations earned
$851,707 before taxes.
In announcing the financial results, Senior
Vice President T. W. Morton said, “We are
gratified with these results, especially at a time
when most other airlines are reporting declining
earnings. A continuation of this trend will be
difficult in view of rapidly escalating fuel and
personnel costs and during a period of time
when many are predicting a recession. In any
event, we expect 1979 to be the best year in our
history.”
Nashville chosen
as site for new
reservations center
Piedmont’s second reservations center will
be located in Nashville, Tennessee.
Plans are to open the new complex in April,
1980 with 160-plus employees in full, intermedi
ate and part-time agent positions.
Prior to the opening of the Company’s first
central reservations office in Winston-Salem
in May, 1971, each station had its own reserva
tions personnel and phone lines. The consolida
tion was expected to accommodate normal
growth for about 15 years.
The CRO opened with about 375 employees
and 200 phone lines. In eight years, there have
been three major equipment expansions. More
than 650 employees currently staff the reserva
tions office, which has 330 phone lines today.
Much of the growth is directly attributable
to deregulation. The rapid expansion of our
route system to the west made Nashville the
logical choice for an additional, centrally-
located reservations complex. The new center
will have 66 phone lines covering Denver,
Dallas/Ft. Worth, Atlanta, Louisville, Chicago,
Memphis, Lexington, Cincinnati and Nashville.
The Winston-Salem res office will retain cover
age of the remaining cities on Piedmont’s
system.
Dividend declared
The Company’s board of directors declared
a cash dividend of 6 cents per share on Pied
mont’s common stock at its regular quarterly
meeting in Winston-Salem on October 17, 1979.
Payable December 3, 1979 to stockholders
of record on November 16, 1979, this is the
ninth consecutive quarterly dividend paid by
the Company. Historically, it is Piedmont’s 23rd
cash dividend.