around
he industry
According to a review of second quarter results by “Avi
ation Daily," F'icdmonl and USAir combined were the
most profitable airline in the nation in terms of both oper
ating and net profits, surpassing American, the industry
leader in both categories in recent years. Piedmont and
USAir together accounted for $167.9 million of the ma
jors' $920.9 million operating profit in the three-month
period and $97.7 million of an adjusted $427.1 million
net profit. The $97.7 million Piedmonl/USAir net profit
figure excludes $21.4 million that USAir reported in its
earnings as its 55.5 percent equity share in Piedmont
earnings.
« « «
Northwest plans to serve Steamboat Springs, CO, from
Minneapolis/St. Paul between December 19 and April 3.
'I'he airline will operate three daily 727 flights to the sea
sonal destination.
United's Silver Wings Plus travel club for passengers
60 years of age and older has been changed to a lifetime
membership program from the current annual member
ship club. The club, first introduced in January 1986,
offers discounts on hotels, cruises, and car rentals in ad
dition to air travel.
* * *
Northwest now offers service from BWI to both MSP
and MEM in addition to DQ'W. The airline is offering
award bonuses and other special amenities through a
new frequent llyer program for passengers who fly at
least 60,000 miles between October 1 and [December 31.
* * *
USAir will begin service to Miami on November 1 with
daily nonstop service to its two major connecting hubs,
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
♦ ♦ *
[^an Am is offering a "water shuttle to the shuttle" at
IX}A. A high-speed boat service, operated by Sloan Ma
rine under contract to the Pan Am Shuttle, links Manhat
tan's financial district with IXlA's Marine Air Terminal
five times daily. The boats carry up to 100 passengers
each. Pan Am offers hourly shuttle flights to BOS and
DCA from the Marine Air Terminal.
* * *
Plans are underway to construct a third airside build
ing at MCO and enlarge the current landside terminal.
The new terminal will include 24 gates, 12 of them able
to handle international arrivals and four able to accom
modate aircraft up to the planned 747-400. The airside
terminal will be connected to the landside terminal by
three-ear trains. The airport has already begun work on
a third carrier runway, more parking spaces, and expan
sion of commercial areas.
United plans to move its Pacific Division headquarters
from Chicago to Honolulu by October 1. The airline ac
quired Pan Am's Pacific routes last year.
* * *
A bubble-topped temporary terminal will be con
structed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport so that reno
vation of the present terminal, including removal of
asbestos, can begin. The temporary terminal is sched
uled for completion by the Fall of 1988. Airport renova
tion and expansion is expected to take until 1994.
* * *
USAir established new single-month records for pas
sengers boarded and revenue passenger miles flown in
scheduled service during August. The airline boarded
2,310,602 passengers, up 10.9 percent over August 1986.
F^PMs rose 12.6 percent during the same period. Avail
able seat miles increased 7.6 percent, and the load factor
ro.se 3.2 points to 71.6 percent.
PSA boarded 1.07 million passengers during August, a
1.2 percent drop from the 1.09 million boarded in August
1986. ASMs were up 3.3 percent and RPMs down 3 per
cent. The load factor was 60.3 percent compared to 64.2
percent in August 1986.
* * *
Piedmont, USAir. and PSA combined boarded
5,610,651 passengers during Avigust, surpassing United,
which boarded 5,226,000 for the same period.
up for discussion
Have a question about Piedmont? This column, “up for discussion, gives you an
opportunity to ask questions about your company.
All questions must be signed and include your name, title, and location. Your
name will be withheld from publication and will not be revealed when your ques
tion is sent to the proper department for an answer. Unsigned questions will be
automatically discarded.
When related questions are received, they will be consolidated and answered as
one question. As many questions and answers as space allows will appear each
month in “up for discussion.”
Send your questions to Piedmonitor Editor, H440, or One Piedmont Plaza,
■Winston-Salem, NC 27156-1000.
Q. Why don't the F28s have names? All
our other aircraft — 737s, 727s, and
767s—all have names.
A. We simply never began naming the
F28 fleet. Piedmont began flying the F28-
1000 on April 1, 1984. By the end of the
year, we had 11 in our fleet and added
nine more in 1985. We took delivery of
two F28-4000S in 1985 and added
23 more in 1986, Including 17 acquired
from the Empire merger. Altogether, we
added 45 Fokker aircraft in less than
three years.
Because USAir does not name its air
craft, we now believe the merger should
be resolved before we decide whether or
not to name the F28s in our fleet.
Bill McGee
chairman, president, and
chief executive officer
Q, With all the negative press our in
dustry has received lately regarding on-
time performance and service, why
haven't we made public the steps Pied
mont has taken to top the industry in per
formance and service? These steps were
taken BEFORE the spotlight was on these
areas and the DOT got involved. In the
field, we appreciate all the positive infor
mation that can be relayed to our
customers.
A, We certainly have! Among others,
USA Tbday, Newsday, and Newsweek
Magazine have published pieces credit
ing Piedmont for being first to recognize
and address the problem. We are also
taking the same story to the media every
day. The Wall Street Journal and other
national publications (such as USA
Tbday) have run tables showing us to be
tops in on-time performance and fewest
complaints. We're very proud in Public
Affairs to represent such a fine record.
Don McGuire
staff vice president-public affairs
Mason promoted to vice president
George Mason has been promoted to vice
president-maintenanee and engineering for
Piedmont. In his new position, he is respon
sible for all maintenance and engineering
activities throughout
the company.
Mason joined Pied
mont in 1980 as
manager-operations
management systems,
and subsequently was
manager-industrial re
lations, director-fuel
procurement, director-
maintenance planning,
and most recently, staff
vice president-
maintenanee planning and administration.
Mason is a graduate of Grove City College
in Grove City, PA, and holds a masters degree
from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to
joining Piedmont, he was employed by An
thony B. Cassidy Associates, Management
Engineers.
Mason's office is located in the office and
maintenance facility on North Liberty Street
in Winston-Salem.
on October 10
number of departures: 1,333
miles flown daily: 476,528
ASMs: 55,881,722
number of aircraft in fleet: 177
average aircraft hop: 357.5 miles
number of airports served: 92
daily block time flown: 1,584 hours
18 minutes
next schedule change: November 15
rOTTIO
passengers
revenue passenger miles
available seat miles
load factor
August
2,227,049
1.04 billion
1.65 billion
63.08%
4-4.8%
-t-7.8%
-1-8.7%
- .50 pts.
First Eight Months
-I- 13,0%
-1-11.7%
-t-8.4%
-I-1.80 pts.
16,809,213
7.56 billion
12.33 billion
61.31%
Piedmont set new records for the month of August in passengers and revenue passenger miles and an all-
time record for available seat miles.
The following stations set new boarding records in August: ALB. BWI. ISP. TYS, LGA, PVD, SEA. STL, ORH.
and YUL.
Our six reservations centers answered 2.977,768 calls in August.
oorgo
U.S. Mail
Air Freight
Air Express
TOTAL
August
2,129.576 -1-41.3%
3,174,488 -t-68.9%
47,336 - 9.0%
5,351,400 -1-55.6%
First Eight Months
16,277,492 -t-22.9%
22,336,613 -t-59.6%
458,980 -(-14.4%
39,023,085 -t-41.4%
Piedmont carried the most air freight and the most total ton miles during August than during any previ
ous nwnth in the Company's history.
Piedmonitor • September 1987