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Piedmont
I
!
Commuter partners give
Captain Danny Williford (center), man
ager of the F28 training center in Thmpa.
talks with captains Robby Byrd. ATL. and
Dave Stevens, a check airman for the F28.
More than 40 Piedmont pilots have now received training at our
F28 training center in Tkmpa since Piedmont took over the center
October 1. In addition, many other airlines have used the state-of-
the-art simulator for flight training.
"We're already exceeding our expectations." Captain C.D.
McLean, staff vice president-flight training, said.
“We haven't missed any flying time since taking over October 1,
and everything’s in place and running well. We're currently
converting the simulator to our F28 configuration and expect to
complete this project early next year, and we have already been
approved by the FAA for Category II approaches.
"The first ground school for recurrent training will begin in
early January and the first initial class will begin a week later,"
he added.
The new training center is located at 5125 Tkmpa West
Boulevard, just a short distance from the Tkmpa International
Airport.
Tbm Kezar. a
simulator engi
neer at the
Thmpa center,
updates a soft
ware program
for the F28
simulator.
After January 15, there'll be an
even better chance that each time
someone in Florida looks up to see
what plane is flying overhead,
they'll see the Piedmont name
painted on it. TVans Air and
Southern Express, both Florida
based, are the latest commuter air
lines to enter a joint marketing
agreement with Piedmont.
“Geography would explain the
why and synergy would explain
the how of our newest commuter
arrangement," Sheri Folger—vice
president commuter and interline
development, said.
“Although we don't have a cen
tral hub to tie these commuters
into our Florida network, we have
been looking for feed traffic in non
jet markets on both the east and
west coasts of the state. TVans Air,
based in Miami, will serve non-jet
markets on the east coast and
Southern Express, based in
Tkmpa, will cover additional
markets for us on the west coast.
“The word synergy best
describes the operation because it
means separate forces feeding off
each other to have a greater effect
on the whole,” Folger explained.
“Our new joint marketing
arrangement in Florida will tie-in
commuter destinations with the
96 daily intrastate jet flights and
the 43 interstate jet flights we will
have in Florida by January—thus
expanding Piedmont’s identity in
the state even further."
And, good news for island hop
pers—as a result of this latest
addition to the Piedmont com
muter family, the Caribbean will
now be included in the destina
tions that see the Piedmont blue,
TVans Air flies to Nassau, Freeport,
North Eleuthera, Ti-easure Cay and
George Town in the Bahamas. The
new Florida destinations in Pied
mont's Commuter System will be
Sarasota, Ft. Myers, Melbourne,
and Marathon.
Southern Express operates a
fleet of five 19-passenger Embraer
Bandeirantes and nine 8-passenger
Piper Navajo Chieftans. TVans Air’s
fleet includes 28 nine-passenger
Cessna 402Cs, four 19-passenger
Bandeirantes, and three 23-
passenger CASA-212-300s.
James promoted
To vp-planning
Dick James, a Piedmont employee
for 20 years, has been appointed vice
president-planning of Piedmont
Aviation Inc.
"Mr. James has played a key role in
the development of Piedmont’s strat
egy and fleet planning in the turbu
lent years since the commercial
aviation industry was deregulated in
1978," Bill Howard, president and
chief executive officer, said in
announcing James' appointment.
James is responsible for the Com
pany’s strategy, its route expansion
program and fleet planning.
James joined Piedmont in 1965 as
a station agent and was brought into
the Route Development Department
as an analyst in 1968. He advanced to
senior analyst, manager-route devel
opment, manager-research, director-
route development, and director of
planning before being promoted to
staff vice president-corporate
planning in 1981.
James holds a B.S. degree in busi
ness management and economics
from High Point College.
Piedmont has been named the best
U.S. airline by a travel writer who
publishes a monthly newsletter he
describes as "a connoisseur’s guide to
peaceful and unspoiled places.”
Andrew Harper, author of "Andrew
Harper’s Hideaway Report,” rated
Piedmont the best of 13 airlines that
received “a significant number of
mentions” among more than 2,400
voluntary reports submitted by
readers over a nine-month period.
With 40 positive and 11 negative com
ments, Piedmont had the highest pro
portion of positive responses of the
airlines mentioned.
The top four airlines following Pied
mont are Delta, Western, Northwest,
and People Express.
Piedmont also placed sixth, the
highest-ranked U.S. airline. In a simi
lar survey that included U.S. and for
eign carriers. Singapore Airlines
ranked first followed by Quantas Air
ways, Japan Air Lines, Air New Zea
land, and British Airways.