2
Piedmont
around Piedmont
On December 15, our fleet will in
clude 63 737-200S, 10 737-300s, 20
F28-1000s, two F28-4000S, and 34
727-200S. The F28-4000s are sched
uled for delivery on December 9 and
December 15. A third F28-4000 will
be delivered in February, and we have
orders for five more. These aircraft
seat 75 passengers compared to 65 in
the F28-1000s.
Chuck Hathaway has been named
station manager for Buffalo (BUF)
where we will begin service Decem
ber 15. Hathaway began working for
Piedmont in 1973 as an agent at ISO.
He transferred to ORD in 1975, to PIT
in 1978, and to PHL in 1981 where he
was a supervisor. In 1982 Hathaway
was promoted to customer service
manager at DCA.
A new flight attendant crew base
will open at CLT January 15. Jack
Doyle, base manager at ILM, will
also be in charge of this base where
50 flight attendants will initially be
stationed. Doyle joined Piedmont
in 1956 as a purser and has been
base manager at ILM since 1965.
With the addition of CLT, we will
have flight attendant crew bases at
eight locations: GSO, ATL, DCA, ORF,
ROA, ILM, and MIA.
Marco Lucioni, a senior business
major from Areguita, Peru, has been
awarded the T. H. Davis Scholarship
at the Undergraduate School of Busi
ness and Accountancy at Wake Forest
University.
Lucioni was chosen because of his
superior performance and outstand
ing leadership qualities. He is current
ly on a tennis scholarship at Wake
Forest and is ranked among the top
players in South America. He is
interested in a career in corporate or
investment banking when he gradu
ates next spring.
The T. H. Davis Scholarship was
established in 1983 by Piedmont em
ployees to honor Davis, Piedmont’s
founder, who retired that spring,
Davis is on the Board of Trustees at
Wake Forest, The first recipient of the
scholarship was Walter F. Hoffman
who graduated last May.
The scholarship is awarded each
year to a senior student in the Under
graduate School of Business and
Accountancy.
On December 15
number of departure^: 997
miles flown daily: 363,526
ASMs (available seat miles):
45,708,787
number of aircraft
in fleet: 129
number of block hours
flown daily: 1,128
average aircraft hop:
364.6 miles
Oehmann
Sharan Oehmann, baggage service
representative at DCA, has been very
active as a member of the Washington
National Airport Local Baggage Com
mittee for the past seven years. To
recognize her many contributions,
the committee recently presented her
with a special plaque which reads:
“In grateful appreciation for your in
terest and productive efforts as a
member of the Washington National
Airport Local Baggage Committee,"
* * ★
Management changes have taken
place at four of our five reservations
centers. The new manager of Reserva-
tions-INT is John Elrod. Gary Black
burn is now manager of Reservations-
MCO, Carolyn Matthews, manager of
Reservations-DAY, and Tom Ellington,
manager of Reservations-BNA.
Phyllis Hutchins, former manager of
the Winston-Salem center, is now
manager-telephone sales development
at Madison Park,
Traffic Statistics
October
passengers boarded
1,545,550
-1-23,9%
revenue passenger miles (RPMs) 680.4 million
+ 28.8%
available seat miles (ASMs) 1.3 billion*
+ 26,4%
load factor
51,40%
-(- ,96 points
‘new monthly record
First 10 Months
passengers boarded
14,840,981
-1-26,8%
revenue passenger miles (RPMs) 6.7 billion
-t-32.1%
available seat miles (ASMs) 11.98 billion
h-23.6%
load factor
56,00%
+ 3.61 points
Cargo Statistics
(ton miles)
October
U.S. Mail
1,817,522
- 5.3%
Air Freight
1,950,956
-1-11.9%
Air Express
65,841
-t-52.7%
TOTAL
3,834,319
-(- 3.5%
First 10 Months
U.S. Mail
15,697,333
- 6.3%
Air Freight
17,186,600
-h20.3%
Air Express
569,149
-1-27.4%
TOTAL
33,453,082
-1- 6.2%
around the industry
• • ‘Airlines are beginning to line up at the Department of TVansportation for merg
er and takeover approvals, PI is one of three in line waiting for a merger to be ap
proved. Carl Icahn filed earlier this year for takeover approval for TWA, and in
October, PE applied to the DOT to purchase Frontier for $300 million. PE says
Frontier will continue to operate as a separate airline but the discount carrier is
already advertising a Denver hub plus combined routes and discount fares.
The advantage of mergers? Besides the obvious advantage of enhanced sharehold
er stock prices, takeovers and mergers come complete with precious gate space,
aircraft and bilateral route rights. With the purchase of Frontier. PE automatically
gets space at 35 gates at Denver’s Stapleton Airport and a wide array of western
routes. Airline analysts agree, too, that airlines must achieve a "critical mass" to
compete with industry giants like UA and AA.
• • ‘Another common activity of airlines in the eighties is developing agree
ments with commuter carriers. USAir was first to start such an arrangement over
15 years ago with Allegheny Air. In such agreements the larger airline shares
its identification code, reservations services and advertising with the commuter
and schedules are coordinated.
Primary benefits — generating new traffic for each carrier and strengthening
the larger carrier's identity in certain markets. Negatives, according to industry
experts: some smaller airlines may rush too quickly into an arrangement in a
"me-too” attitude without sufficient planning in all aspects of the agreement.
Also, commuters may face a loss of identity in some markets. However, statistics
show that commuter traffic is markedly increased after such agreements,
• **PeoplExpress is starting their own in-flight magazine in January called
PeoplExpressions. While some changes make the carrier resemble typical carriers,
the main difference is pointed out in their new ad campaign theme — "Our biggest
conviction, no restrictions."
• * ‘Washington, D,C. is the scene of the latest fare war. Presidential Airways, a new
carrier formed by two former PE employees, began operation out of Dulles to five
Eastern cities on Oct. 10. The rates are discount but unlike PE, baggage and meal
service is included. In reply, PI, USAir, PE and New York Air matched fares to and from
those cities — even if for some carriers it meant slashing prices on flights to BWl and
DCA. Plus: normally conservative USAir made all seats on all flights unrestricted two
weeks before Presidential even began operation: PE introduced service to MIA from lAD
for $49 with no restrictions and New York Air introduced service to two Presidential
destinations it hadn't served before.
‘ * ‘As part of a rapid growth plan that is projected to ultimately lower company
costs, AA exercised options on ten more MD-80 jetliners. The original order was
placed with McDonnell Douglas in the spring of 1984. AA claims it is the largest
single order of aircraft in commercial aviation history. Counting the latest acquisi
tion. AA will have leased or purchased 110 MD-80's and if all options are exercised,
the carrier's fleet would include a total of 200 MD-80 jetliners by October 1991.
Purchase prices weren't disclosed but analysts estimate the value of the entire
order at more than $3 billion.
‘ ‘ ‘The sale of Pan Am's Pacific routes to United is waiting for federal approval.
Northwest Orient moved quickly to protect its 122 trans-Pacific routes (that ac
counted for 42.9% of its earnings last yearl by ordering $2 billion worth of jets
from Boeing, tripling its fleet. The order was the biggest in NW's 59-year history,
and included ten 747-400's — the world’s longest-range widebody jet, with a digital
two-man cockpit and the ability to fly 8.000 miles nonstop.
“ ‘A trend to draw from domestic routes in order to feed overseas routes may be
in the cards for a number of major U.S. airlines. Delta is expanding its European
destinations, hoping to make ATL the South’s gateway to Europe. DL already flies
from ATL to London, Paris, & Frankfurt. Starting next spring. DL plans to fly to
Munich and Stuttgart in West Germany and Shannon Airport on Ireland's west
coast.
‘ “Next year the travel industry will encourage consumers to “Discover America!
The Vacation Sensation." Such promotional campaigns are designed to beef up
domestic travel. They must be working. The U.S. Travel Data Center reports that
domestic air traffic was up 13%in the first half of 1985. Other facts released by the
center for the same period — vacation travel was up 8%: business trips increased
by one-third: travel abroad advanced 5%: foreign arrivals in the U.S. rose 4%.
• * ‘More doors are being opened for travel in the walled country of China during
the next three years. China’s national airline plans to buy 30 jumbo jets in the next
three years and launch new routes to at least eight countries. CAAC already flies
to 21 countries and as a result of the Republic's new open-door policies, existing
services will also be expanded in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and the U.S.
Piedmont opened a new city ticket
office recently in the Blaustein Building
in the Inner Harbor area of downtown
Baltimore. On hand for the ribbon-cutting
ceremony are (I to r) Marty Martinez,
district sales manager, BWI: Baltimore
Mayor W. D. Schaefer: Carla Kindle, CTO
agent: and Tbm Jameson and John Ferry,
both BWI sales representatives.