Newspapers / Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter / Nov. 1, 1986, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Teamwork key to Shuttle's performance People in Florida aren’t setting their watches by it—yet. But if they were, The F^iedmont Shuttle would have those second hands moving about as on-time as possible. Because today, when an airline's ability to fly on-time is one of its strongest marketing assets. The Piedmont Shuttle is a model for getting passengers to their destina tions as scheduled. In fact, over the past six months, the Shuttle has averaged a 92 percent originating and 89 percent terminating on- time performance. That already exceeds the system-wide 90/75 percent goals for 1987 set by Pied mont’s On-Time Performance Committee. Bill McGee, senior vice president- marketing and chairman of the committee, said the Shuttle's per formance is the result of hard work by crews, station and maintenance personnel in Florida, by schedul ing, and by the very nature of the Shuttle's operations. "Much of the Shuttle’s on-time performance success is due to con scientious, dedicated Piedmont employees,” McGee said. "But in addition, the Shuttle network has an advantage in both weather and scheduling. Because Florida’s weather is usually good, delays are substantially reduced; and because all the Shuttle’s aircraft remain in the state, it avoids delays caused by operations in other parts of the country.” teamwork Ask Piedmont people in Florida what makes the Shuttle tick, and the answer is unanimous: team work. And the key to proper team work is good communications between all facets of our operations. "Tfeamwork is the key,” Ron Bee son, station manager-TLH, said. “On-time performance is some thing we work on every day.” For the 46 station employees at TLH. this includes cross-training in customer service and operations skills. Each agent alternates every other week in the two areas, which means that the station is never lacking for experienced employees in passenger and ground handling. In addition, before each push supervisors have short meetings with agents to discuss the flight and suggest improvements to speed ground handling. As with all Shuttle cities, most of the F28 flights in TLH have rela tively short turn-arounds. And when a flight experiences a rare inbound delay, that turnaround I °v P number of departures: 1,235 miles flown daily: 427,846 ASMs (available seat miles): 51,735,438 number of aircrtift in fleet: 159 average aircraft hop: 346.4 number of airports served: 87 daily block time flown: 1,429 hours, 16 minutes next schedule change: February 1 time shortens even more. A good example was flight 792 on Novem ber 3 due in at 8:55 a.m. It was 13 minutes late inbound, but left as flight 775 on schedule at 9:40 a.m. "We're going to do whatever it takes to get the job done," Beeson said. Even at larger stations, such as MIA, The Piedmont Shuttle has an excellent on-time performance rec ord. Station Manager Mike Blythe said the Shuttle’s 29 daily depar tures at MIA are virtually a sepa rate operation from the rest of the station, with employees repeatedly assigned to Shuttle flights for the most experienced, efficient han dling of the inherently short turn times. "We maintain a very high degree of communications among our selves, and I think that’s the key to it," Blythe said. Part of that communicating includes weekly meetings with crew bases, maintenance and cater ing to discuss Shuttle operations. Any problems that might exist are raised, and solutions are quickly sought. Another plus for MIA’s on- time performance is a “coordina tor” at the station who does what the word implies: he monitors and helps coordinate connecting flights. Jim Nazarkewich, line mainte nance manager-MIA, echos the importance of those meetings. "We discuss everything that involves delays," he said. "Our role in main tenance is to keep the aircraft safe, operational and on-time—in that order." efficiency Nazarkewich said that the cur rent 27 maintenance employees in MIA work three shifts, with most preventative maintenance and inspections at night in MIA. But mechanics travel throughout the Shuttle system for on-site repairs and pride themselves in putting aircraft in “perfect working condition for operation the next morning.” As they do throughout our sys tem, pilots and flight attendants on the Shuttle have significantly con tributed to good on-time perfor mance by making flights operate as efficiently as possible. For example, Kathy Pressly, base manager for the 106 flight attendants based in MIA, said that attendants try to do FLOI^ro^ SHUTTLE On-Time Performance - Previous Six Months Within 15 Minutes Of Published Schedule j' ^ • :| Departures Arrivals 90%- ■ 80%-- 70%' - 30%- - 20%- - 10%' - May-86 Jun-86 Jul-86 Aug-86 Sep-86 Oct-86 their job quickly without sacrific ing customer service. This effi ciency is aided by cooperation with pilots and station personnel —who with the Shuttle flight attendants have “built up a clientele that’s just phenomenal," she said. Loyd TLirner, chief pilot of the MIA crew base, said that pilots often take advantage of “intersec tion takeoffs" in the F28, a maneu ver which gets them on a runway at intersections while larger planes are still taxiing to a runway's begin ning. The F28's comparatively smaJler size also comes in handy at FLL, where the Shuttle can use runway 27 Left and be airborne within 60 seconds after leaving the gate while larger aircraft must taxi to runway 9 Left—about seven minutes away. "Our pilots also visit control towers to discuss problems and solutions,” Tbrner said. "So our crew members not only com municate, they’re extremely con scientious, dedicated Piedmont employees.” pride Throughout the Shuttle system, pride in a flight operation that boarded a million passengers in less than a year has combined with a caring about those passengers that has become one of Piedmont’s best success stories. Rogers Eng land, senior station agent-TLH, perhaps said it best when asked why the Shuttle works so well. “Our people sincerely care about the passengers we put on our air craft,” England said. "After a flight takes off, there are two things we always ask: how many did we put on the plane, and did they leave on-time?” With that kind of attitude spread over 132 daily departures in 12 Florida cities, it can only signal continued success for The Pied mont Shuttle—a success built on a solid foundation of on-time performance. Henson to enter Florida market February 1; Will offer “Shuttle Link" to PI service Henson, The Piedmont Regional Airline, will begin service to eight Florida cities with 32 daily depar tures on February 1. The new ser vice, called the “Shuttle Link,” will enhance our popular Piedmont Shuttle in the Sunshine State. “It has long been our goal to bring high quality air service to intra-Florida markets that lack enough passengers for jet service. The capabilities of the Dash-8 air craft and our affiliation with Pied mont will allow us to do this in 1987," Dick Henson, founder and chairman of the airline, said at a press conference held November 10 at Jacksonville, FL. In addition. Henson has also applied for international authority to provide service between Fort Lauderdale and Treasure Cay and Marsh Harbour in the Bahama Islands. This authority must be obtained from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Baha mian government. Henson will inaugurate its Florida service with flights to FLL, GNV, JAX, MLB (Melbourne), MIA, APF, MCO, and PBI. The Shuttle Link will use the popular 37- passenger deHavilland Dash-8, a roomy twin-engine propjet that cruises at 300 miles per hour. The aircraft feature flight attendant ser vice, overhead storage bins, and on board lavatories. Henson plans to open a pilot and flight attendant crew base as well as a maintenance base at JAX. and the airline will have approximately 50 employees in the state when it begins service February 1. Pied mont will handle all reservations as well as most ticket counter sales and baggage handling. Henson is the nation’s fifth largest regional carrier in terms of passengers boarded. On its present route system, which serves 30 air ports in 11 states from New Eng land to South Carolina. Henson will fly over 1.1 million passengers in 1986. The new Piedmont Shuttle Link service, effective February 1, will include; • three daily round-trip flights between JAX and MCO. JAX and PBI, and APF and MCO. • two daily round-trip flights between MCO and MLB. • one daily round-trip flight be tween APF and MIA. FLL and PBI, GNV and JAX, GNV and MCO, and MIA and MLB. Service to the Bahamas, which is pending government approval, will include one daily flight from FLL to TVeasure Cay. continuing to Marsh Harbour, and returning to FLL from Marsh Harbour.
Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 1, 1986, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75