The Up-And-Coming Airline
3
continued from page 1
been able to make with the cooper
ation of our stockholders and £ill
our employees."
He pointed out that 1980 was the
best year In Piedmont’s history by
eveiy measurement.
"At a time when the airline
industry generally was reducing
employment, Piedmont was sub
stantially increasing its employ
ment to the point we now have
almost 6,000 total employees."
He also told stockholders that:
—The value of their holdings had
increased substantially.
— Piedmont had a 100 percent
safety of operations record for
the year.
— Piedmont has begun 1981
with a profitable first quarter,
one of the few in the Com
pany’s history.
Stockholders were cautioned that
the Company must be mindful of
substantial fuel, personnel and
interest cost increases that will
force further fare increases, and
pressures from new airlines com
ing into existence with lower costs
and providing cut-rate competition.
Howard told stockholders that
Piedmont’s airline division enjoyed
a 22.3 percent growth in actual
revenue passenger miles during a
year when the industry saw a net
decline in traffic. He attributed
Piedmont’s growth in 1980 to:
—The establishment of a strong
complex at Charlotte where
Piedmont feeds traffic to its
own flights, rather than taking
the passengers to larger hubs
to feed trunk carriers, as
regional airlines did in the
past.
— Piedmont’s new services which
generally represent the best
service available to the traveler
in markets we entered.
—An on-time performance which
led the entire industry in com-
Above: Stockholders attentively
listen to Davis' report. At right: A
bird’s eye view of the meeting was
taken from the inside ojthe 737.
pletion of flights with 15 min
utes of schedule.
—A dedicated and Inspired
group of employees that are
providing a very high standard
of airline service.
In expanding upon his remarks
concerning quality of service and
on-time performance, Howard
explained that an on-time airline
represents outstanding perfor
mance by every department.
He said Piedmont was running a
very fine airline in terms of main
tenance. “Those airplanes are ready
to go in the morning and they stay
operational the bulk of the day.
“Service people see that they are
loaded and unloaded and that the
passengers are boarded on time,
ticketed on time."
Piedmont’s compliments from
passengers increased 40 percent,
while complaints increased just 3.6
percent, he reported.
H. K. Saunders, senior vice presi-
dent-operations, told the stock
holders that by the end of 1983,
Piedmont would be operating a fleet
of 62 Boeing 737 aircraft, the larg
est such fleet of any airline in the
world.
"Piedmont will complete by
midyear the interior refurbishing
and modification program of its
737 fleet begun in 1979,” he said.
R S. Northington, senior vice
president and president of the
General Aviation Group, contrasted
the Taylor E-2 with the more mod
em general aviation aircraft on
display.
“The Beechcraft King Air is the
largest selling turbo-prop aircraft
in the world. It has been a real
winner for us,” he said.
For the General Aviation Group,
1980 was also the most outstand
ing year in Piedmont’s history. In
addition to aircraft sales, Northing
ton pointed out that parts and
accessory sales, fuel sales, mainte
nance services, and engine and
propeller overhaul are all very inte
gral to the general aviation field.
"In 1980, sales were up 17 per
cent to $66 million,” Northington
said. "Net income was up 22 per
cent to $2.75 million."
Sales of smaller, private, pleas
ure-type aircraft were down, largely
because of higher interest rates.
However, this was offset by in
creased sales of larger corporate
and business-type aircraft.
Ernst Sr’Whinney was designated
by the stockholders to serve as
independent auditor for the
Company.
Directors reelected by the stock
holders were;
G. Gordon Brown; E. L. Davis, Jr.;
T. H. Davis; Rawson Haverty; Law
rence Lewis, Jr.; T. W. Morton; R S.
Northington: E. M. O’Herron; H. K.
Saunders: John F. Wadington, Jr.;
Maurice H. Winger, Jr.; and C. W.
Womble.
5-months traffic
Going up. Up, UP
For the first five months of 1981,
Piedmont Airlines carried more
traffic than any full year prior to
1977.
A strong May performance with
more passengers boarded than any
prior month in Piedmont’s history
lifted total revenue passenger miles
for 1981 to 1.2 billion. For the full
year 1976, Piedmont recorded 1.07
billion revenue passenger miles.
Performance was strong across
the board. In the month of May,
Piedmont offered a record 467.8
million available seat miles (up 19.7
percent over 1980) and flew 276.2
million revenue passenger miles
(up 35.2 percent). Passenger board
ings were 636,007, the most of any
month in Piedmont’s history. Pas
senger load factor rose to 59.05
percent, up 6.8 points from the
52.27 percent for May a year earlier.
This was the highest May load fac
tor for Piedmont since 1979 when a
major trunk airline was grounded.
Performance figures for the first
five months continued strong.
Passenger boardings reached
2,723,566, up 24 percent from
1980. RPM’s of 1.2 billion grew 37.2
percent through the month of May,
and capacity (ASM’s) rose 19.3
percent.
Passenger load factor for the five
months rose 7.3 points to 55.7 per
cent, up from 48.4 percent in 1980.
Piedmont has now recorded 53
consecutive months ofyear-over-
year traffic improvement.
We've just begun
1981 — at a profit
In the first quarter of 1981,
Piedmont Aviation, Inc., reported
record earnings of more than $ I
million — one of the very few years
in which the Company has made a
profit in the first three months.
Piedmont's earnings totaled
$1,444,000, or 22 cents per share,
during the first quarter. For the
same period in 1980, the Company
had a loss of $5,115,000, or $ 1.09
per share.
“Dedicated performance by our
employees made these record earn
ings possible,” President Bill How
ard said.
"We also can credit F*iedmont's
expanded fleet of more efficient air
craft and the gradual shift in Pied
mont’s scheduling which has pro
vided the Company a significantly
longer average passenger haul.”
For the first quarter, gross reve
nues were $130.7 million, up 33.9
percent over the previous year.
Costs and expenses rose 23.4 per
cent from $104.3 million in 1980 to
$128.7 million this year.