6
Piedmont
We're the largest purchaser
Of 737-300S in the world
Piedmont just become the biggest 737oirline in the world
Boeing placed this ad in the October I
issue of the Wall Street Journal. On Sep
tember 25. Lve announced that we are
converting 19 options for 737-300s to
firm orders, making us the largest pur
chaser of 737-SOOs in the ivorld. We will
have 45 of these aircraft in our fleet bu
early 1989.
Piedmont now has orders for
45 Boeing737-300aircraft, making
us the largest purchaser of 737-
300s in the world.
In addition, the order is the
largest ever placed for aircraft at
one time by Piedmont in the Com
pany's history.
The new orders were made
known September 25 when we
announced that we are converting
19 options for 737-300s to firm
orders. The move brings our total
firm orders for the aircraft, the
most advanced commercial jet in
the industry today, to a total of 45.
At the same time, we announced
that we have arranged 20 addi
tional options for the aircraft.
The delivery of the full order
of 45 aircraft will be complete by
early 1989.
We received our first 737-300
last April and now have eight of
the aircraft in our fleet with two
more scheduled for delivery this
year. We also have orders in place
for eight F28-4000 aircraft which
will all be delivered by October
1986.
Our previous largest initial or
der was made May 21, 1984, when
we announced our initial order
of 15 Boeing 737-300s. We have
since twice exercised options for
additional 737-300 aircraft prior
to the September 25 order.
Florida expansion
continued from page I
The city of Orlando will see
the biggest part of The Piedmont
Shuttle’s second phase growth.
Piedmont’s Orlando presence will
double as of Jan. 15. Daily de
partures at MCO — including a
nonstop to Charlotte that begins
Dec. 15 — will increase from 12 to
25, making it a major connecting
point for north-south travel on the
Shuttle.
“Orlando is an ideal city for our
Florida program,” James con
tinued. “Its central location and
tourist draw makes it a perfect
place for cross connections and
commuter feed.”
But the airport is not the only
place in Orlando experiencing
Piedmont growth. To help sched
ule travel for all the interstate and
intrastate service, a new $4.3 mil
lion Piedmont reservations facility
is being constructed at Lake Point
in the Lee Vista Center. Initially
the building will have 15,000
square feet but the 10.4 acre site
can accommodate future expan
sion up to 30,000 square feet.
Piedmont’s present reservations
facility is at Walt Disney World
and employs about 225 people.
The new reservations center
should employ about 350 people
by next summer.
How is the entire Florida Shut
tle program progressing to date?
“We spent a lot of time design
ing the service to be very efficient
and very effective,” James said,
“and we’re finding that it is just
that. When you consider that it
usually takes six months to a year
for new services to fully develop,
we would have to say that the first
week of the Shuttle was remarka
ble — especially considering the
time of year that the service start
ed. Post-Labor Day load factors
are historically low in the indus
try yet our load factor in Florida
for the Shuttle’s first week was
close to break-even. One of the
reasons this program is so suc
cessful so quickly is that the
break-even load factor for our
F28’s in Florida is projected to
be less than 40%.”
So, at the beginning of 1986,
our Florida Shuttle will “lift-off’
from 12 Florida destinations with
94 daily jet flights.
Atlhllahassee. Florida's capital, the
media turned out to welconje our first
flight on October 1. President Bill Howard
teamed with Stuart Matthews, president
of Fokker Aircraft U.S.A. Inc.. to christen
the Shuttle from Fokker's hot air balloon.
It may well have been the first ribbon-
cutting ceremony from a balloon in
history.
Empire merger
continued from page I
Year” by Air Transport World
magazine at the same time. Co
incidentally, in 1983 when we
received approval to acquire
Henson, Henson had been
named regional “Airline of the
Year” for 1982.
"Empire employees are excited
about becoming a part of the
Piedmont family,” Howard said
after a recent visit to Empire's
headquarters in Utica.
"The day the announcement
was made, many of our stations
sent messages to Empire stations
welcoming them to the Piedmont
family, and this alone has made
a big impression on Empire’s
employees.”
Howard told Empire employees
that we intend no layoffs, and that
we believe that job security and
career potential will be enhanced
by the merger.
"The major intent of this merg
er is not to remove Empire or its
people from the region you now
serve but rather to expand the
presence of Piedmont there,"
he said.
Like Piedmont, Empire was ini
tially a fixed base operator, offer
ing fueling, deicing and other
ramp services to corporate and
private aircraft owners, charter
and air taxi flights to local travel
ers, and flight instruction to area
pilots through an FAA-approved
flight school. The company's
name was then Oneida County
Aviation, Inc.
In 1975, the company began
providing scheduled flights be
tween Utica and Syracuse, and in
1979, changed its corporate name
to Empire Airlines, Inc., to reflect
the predominance of its airline
operations.
In the 10 years since that
first flight. Empire has grown
to become one of the country's
largest regional airlines, serving
25 destinations in nine states
and the Canadian provinces of On
tario and Quebec with a fleet of
85-passenger Fokker F28 jets
and 19-passenger Swearingen
Metro II jetprops. Two more F28s
are scheduled for delivery in
1986. The jetprops will be phased
out by the end of this year. In
1984, Empire carried 1,073,000
passengers.
Empire has a reservations
center in Utica which is tied into
American’s SABRE system. Em
pire pilots already receive training
from Piedmont at our F28 train
ing center in Tkmpa.
"It is becoming increasingly
clear that the success of an airline
in a deregulated environment is
linked to its ability to feed traffic
through its own hubs,” Howard
said.
"Empire’s strong presence in
upstate New York will greatly en
hance Piedmont’s growth in this,
the second most populous state in
America. The result will be a larger,
stronger Piedmont with a greater
capability to compete with bur
industry's giant air carriers.”
Howard added: “Just as we have
made Piedmont a household word
in Florida through our major ex
pansion program, this merger
with Empire will give us the same
opportunities in the Northeast.”