October 1984
volume 35, number 5
News about Piedmont. The Up-And-Coming Airline.
New Complex will house GAG's headquarters
Construction began this month
at Smith Reynolds Airport in
Winston-Salem on a $ 1.9 million
hangar/office complex for the
General Aviation Group.
The new structure, scheduled for
occupancy in July 1985, will be
built on the site where three old
general aviation hangars now
stand. Piedmont first got its start in
these hangars almost 45 years ago.
The new complex will include a
27,600-square foot hangar which
will house from 18 to 24 aircraft.
The office will provide 14,400
square feet of space for General
Aviation Group's headquarters, the
Winston Salem division of GAG, the
Beechcraft sales department, the
charter department, a flight plan
ning room, administrative offices,
and an employee breakroom.
Initially. 23 people will be located
in the new complex.
"In order to maintain our Beech
crcift franchise, we need to improve
our facilities,” Joe H. Culler, presi
dent of GAG, said.
"With the new complex, we’ll be
able to attract more customers and
offer better services. The hangar
will be heated and will have motor
ized electric doors. The present
hangars have deteriorated to the
point of being unsafe for storage of
multimillion dollar aircraft.
"Additionally, our employees,
who are now scattered around in
different buildings, will be located
to'gfetlier. We'JJ have room for future
expansion.”
The oldest hangar on the site was
built in the early 1930’s and was
home for Piedmont's predecessor,
Camel City Flying Service, and for
Piedmont in its first years. It was
continued page 2
Piedmont chooses Dayton
For our fifth res center
President Bill Howard ilefU prepares to
announce plansfor the new Dayton Reser
vations Office at a press conference held in
Dayton in late August. Wilh him areAl
Dietzel. director of economic development
for the State of Ohio, and Dayton Mayor
Paul Leonard.
Dayton will be the site for
Piedmont's fifth regional reserva
tions office, scheduled to open early
next year. The $3.3 million facility
will initially have 210 employees to
handle an expected 2.5 million
telephone calls in its first year of
operation.
The one-story reservations facil
ity is being built at the Dayton
International Airport, near the Day
ton Airport Inn. Construction
began in mid-October on the 15,000
square foot structure with comple
tion set for spring.
President Bill Howard announced
plans for the new facility on August
27 in remarks before the Dayton
Rotary Club.
“Calls from the midwest cities we
serve are now handled by either our
Nashville or Reston offices," Don
Shanks, vice president customer
relations, said.
"As a result, because charges are
based on a per mile basis, we’re pay
ing line charges that are quite high.
Our studies have revealed that from
a long-range standpoint, the most
economical and practical approach
to handling the continuing
expected increase in telephone
calls is to establish the facility at
Dayton."
Shanks estimates that the new
office will save Piedmont millions in
continued page 4
This year's slogan has
been. “A billion or more in
'84." And it looks like we're
going to do Just that!
In late November or early
December, Piedmont will
reach $1 billion in revenues
for the year. That means we'll
move upfrom the "national"
airlines category to the
“majors," as designated by
the Civil Aeronautics Board.
(“Nationals" have annual
revenues between $75
million and $] billion.
“Majors" have annual
revenues exceeding $1
billion annually.)
Watchfor an announce
ment sometime soon!