'On-time' improvements grow from team efforts
Phones have been ringing in
every Piedmont station over the
past few weeks by callers who
spend more time listening than
talking. The calls are from Pied
mont’s On-Time Performance Com
mittee. and their purpose is to
gather suggestions on improving
performance even more in 1988.
Jim Tkbor, manager-system per
formance, said the calls are part of
a new strategy to tailor on-time
recommendations even closer to
the needs of each station. In addi
tion. pilots and flight attendants
continue to offer suggestions
through their departments, giving
the company valuable insight into
flight delays.
“Last year, the company primar
ily addressed broad policy issues
that affect on-time performance,"
Tkbor said. "These recommenda
tions, such as increasing block
times and adding key personnel,
have mostly been accomplished
with excellent results. Now the
company must have a more de
tailed analysis of each station's
needs in order to address them
most effectively.”
Almost every committee member
is responsible for working with a
number of stations. The member
acts as a liaison between those sta
tions and the committee, building a
cooperative relationship to find
which actions can cure which de
lays. According to Sky Day, director
of training-stations, the initial
phone conversations start with last
year’s written survey of station
recommendations.
“We ask how effectively the pre
viously adopted recommendations
improved performance, then open
the door to any new ideas.’ ’ Day
said. “We’re finding that a lot of
hidden factors cause delays—and
that these factors often change as
recommendations are adopted.”
For example. Day said that some
stations have problems with pas
sengers arriving late at the gate.
But many of these passengers actu
ally arrive at the airport on-time,
yet are held up at the ticket count
er due to long lines. So the “late-
arriving” passengers are really late
through no fault of their own.
After getting feedback from a sta
tion, the committee member lists
the suggested recommendations
and sends them to the station for
more analysis. Stations then return
the revised recommendations to
system performance
85% T
75% -
70% -
88 Feb-88
Feb-87
Piedmont's on-time performance was
“back on track” for February with
departures and arrivals on goal or above.
The weather was cooperative, but sig
nificant improvements were also seen in
hub operations and in gate departures as
a result of improved methods of trans
mitting weight and balance data to
aircraft.
1988 on-time standards have been
“tightened” to within 14 minutes of
schedule, so the differences shown here
are even better than they appear.
the committee member who com
bines the information with that
gleaned from other stations. The
result is an exhaustive list of new
improvements to on-time perfor
mance—a list that should be com
piled by early spring.
But Day said that some improve
ments have already been imple
mented thanks to information from
station managers and flight crews.
One example is the new procedures
for giving weight and balance
close-outs to pilots. Piedmont
sometimes took delays while wait
ing for the close-outs, but now
allows pushback before sending the
figures electronically to the cock
pits. The result is that our pilots
get the information they need with
out sacrificing performance.
A1 Huddleston, manager of crew
scheduling-flight attendants, said
that stations are giving frank an
swers to their problems and that
the one-to-one relationship be
tween committee members and
stations has improved the analysis
of delay causes.
Part-timers to receive service pins
More than 2.300 employees will
receive credit for their part-time
service with the company under a
new policy.
Current part-time employees
will now be eligible to receive ser
vice pins for their years of part-
time service. Current full-time
employees who have also worked
for the company on a part-time
basis will be credited for their
part-time service and will receive
ser\'ice pins where indicated.
“In order to acknowledge the
years of service our part-time em
ployees have given to the com
pany as well as credit full-time
employees who began working
with the company part-time, ser
vice seniority dates will be ad
justed to include part-time
service,” Dave Workman, vice
president-human resources, said.
Employees will receive credit for
part-time service amounting to
one half their total time with the
company as part-time employ
ees. For example, if an employee
worked part-time for two years
and has been full-time for four
years, he/she will receive a five-
year pin. A person who has been
part-time for 10 years will be
eligible for a five-year pin.
“Eligible part-time employees
will receive their pins in April,”
Workman said. “Because so many
of our full-time employees began
their Piedmont careers on a part-
time basis, it will take longer for
us to verify service dates and
order additional pins.”
“The new system helps because it
gives a more direct approach for the
stations,” Huddleston said. “In addi
tion, most of their problems are
inter-related and one station often
has the same problems as another.
So we’re able to see patterns while
working on individual solutions.”
The renewed push for on-time
performance in 1988 comes after
the system performance depart
ment set a new performance goal
for the year; 85 percent departures
on-time and 80 percent arrivals on-
time. Ikbor said the figures appear
to be the same as last year’s goal
but are actually a two percent
increase.
“This year Piedmont is using the
Department of Transportation’s 14-
minute window for on-time flights
rather than the customary 15 min
utes,” he said. “The change in for
mula causes about a two percent
increase in the system-wide perfor
mance goal compared to last year.”
In other words, any flight that
leaves or arrives 15 minutes after
its published schedule will now be
classified as one minute late. Last
year, the company used the tradi
tional 15-minute buffer in which a
flight was still considered on-time.
Tkbor said Piedmont is adopting
the new standard to be consistent
with the DOT’S requirements. The
DOT started its 14-minute window
in September 1987 when it began
publishing the performance data of
all carriers.
The new goal is still a challenge
for Piedmont—a challenge height
ened by the increased attention to
on-time performance demonstrate.d
by other airlines. With good weather,
the additional insights of our sta
tion managers and flight crews,
and the strong commitment to cus
tomer service that characterizes
our company, it should be a goal
we attain.
On-time performance
committee and
station assignments
Doug Boggs, regional director—
ORD. FBI. ELM. EVV. EWR. EYW.
FAY. FLL. SAV
Carl Crumley, director-passenger
procedures —MSP MSY. PHL. PIT.
PNS. PVD. RDU. RIC. ROA. ROC
Sky Day, director of training-
stations— FNT. FWA. GNV. GRR.
GSO. GSP. HTS. lAH. ILM
Fred Haecker, manager-strategic
planning—SBN. MYR. DCA. DEN.
DEW. DTW
Judy Hemmingway, analyst-
stations —AGS, APE BDL. BGM.
SNA. BOS. SUE JAX
Dave Howard, manager-frequent
traveler marketing—LOW NAS.
ORE RSW. ALB. BTV. ISP
A1 Huddleston, manager of crew
scheduling-flight attendants—
CAE. CAK. CHA. CHO. CHS. CLE.
CMI. CRW. CVG. SFO
Clay Jones, director-operations
budgets & resources—LYH. MCO.
MEM. MIA. ATL. AVL. AZO. SDF
DAB
Bill McIntyre, manager-
appiications development
Brenda Newsome, manager-
aircraft routing—TLH. TOL, TPA.
TRI. TYS. UCA. ORH. OAJ. STL
Peter Otradovec, director-
scheduie planning
Jane Rhoades, senior air trans
portation analyst—JFK. LAN.
LAX. LEX. LGA. ISO. ITH
George Stearns, director-
corporate finance
Jim T&bor, manager-system
performance—CLT. SYR. DAY.
BWI
Debbie Thompson, director-
customer relations
Steve Zaks, manager-tariffs and
revenue accounting (Henson) —
all Henson-staffed stations
March 1988 • Piedmonitor