Schick elected to pilot Piedmont
Tbm Schick was elected Piedmont’s president
and chief operating officer following the retire
ment of Bill McGee on June 24.
On June 24, 1988, the board of directors of
Piedmont Aviation elected Tom Schick president
and chief operating officer of the company, the
fourth person to head the corporation since its
founding in 1940. Schick replaces Bill McGee
who retired from Piedmont on the same day to
pursue other career interests. (See related story
on page 3.)
Below are Schick’s comments in response to
questions posed to him in a recent interview by
the Piedmonitor:
First, congratulations on being elected to your
new position. As president and chief operating
officer, what are your responsibilities?
I appreciate the congratulations. My responsi
bilities are no different than those of my prede
cessors’, and they are to maintain Piedmont’s
standards and reputation while ensuring that we
earn consistent profits. To help accomplish these
goals. I'm responsible for the proper and prudent
use of all the company’s assets, including person
nel and equipment, to provide the quality of ser
vice and performance we require to properly
compete. Of course. I’m also responsible for en
suring Piedmont’s smooth integration into USAir
and for being Piedmont’s spokesperson when
necessary.
Do you plan any major changes for the com
pany besides our normal integration into USAir?
Due to Piedmont's continued success and the
merger transition, I do not foresee any major
changes for the company. Perhaps this is a good
time to note that we have two overall goals: con
ducting our day-to-day business as usual to
maintain profits and developing a new airline.
Not only do we need continued fine efforts that
have given Piedmont our excellent reputation for
service, but we each need to do our part to en
hance the merger. This will help make the com
bined company even better.
A sign of just how well we’re doing in this re
gard is our traffic and financial figures to date.
In most mergers, the acquired company has de
creased performance and profits. But Piedmont
has continued to set record profits and traffic
throughout the merger process—strong evidence
of how dedicated our employees are and how
smoothly the process is going.
Do the recent management changes at Pied
mont affect the merger’s timetable?
None of the management changes will have an
impact on the merger timetable. The officers who
left definitely contributed to the company, but
their responsibilities had already been predomi
nantly merged. In fact, throughout the company,
plans for the merger are virtually complete and
all that remains is to carry them out.
continued on page 4
Volume 39, number 6
Consumer Affairs, Frequent Traveler and USAir Ciub
Departmenfs to be located in INT
The USAir merger took additional steps toward
completion earlier this month when USAir an
nounced that it will soon combine and relocate
more departments to Winston-Salem.
The USAir consumer affairs department, as
well as the carrier’s administration for its fre
quent traveler and airport club programs will
relocate here starting this August, bringing about
100 additional jobs to the Winston-Salem area.
Harry Roth, USAir director-consumer affairs,
explained that USAir’s consumer affairs depart
ment is moving to Winston-Salem in anticipation
of the merger and to standardize procedures so
the ultimate integration of the departments can
be accomplished smoothly.
Although it’s too early to determine staffing
and procedures, Roth and Deborah Thompson,
Piedmont director-customer relations, are meet
ing regularly to decide how the departments will
be merged. Roth’s department has 16 employees,
and Thompson's office also has 16 permanent
employees.
“We have excellent facilities, a great staff and
an ability to accommodate the fine staff of USAir
moving to INT,” Thompson said. “We’re making
sure we have the best of both departments when
we put this project together. We both have some
thing good to contribute toward better handling
of consumer compliments and complaints.”
Marketing and administration for the airport
clubs of both carriers will be consolidated and
moved to INT effective August 1. Faye McIntyre,
who heads Piedmont’s pass bureau and Presi
dential Suite administration, will assume new
responsibilities as manager-USAir Club market
ing and administration. She will also continue
managing the pass bureau until the merger is
completed.
“By combining the administration, it gives us
leeway to start positioning for a smoother transi
tion for passengers who use the clubs,” McIntyre
said. “They know they can get full amenities
from both airlines’ clubs.”
Together, USAir and Piedmont hav^e the
greatest number of domestic U.S. club locations
in the industry. Piedmont has Presidential Suites
in 14 cities: ATL, BWI, CUT, DAY, DCA, DFW,
EWR, GSO, LG A, MCO, MIA, RDU, SYR and TPA.
USAir has USAir Clubs in 10 cities: BDL, BOS,
BUF, CLE, DCA, LAX, LGA, PHL, PIT and ROC.
Since last November, there has been a recipro
cal arrangement where any Presidential Suite
member can use any USAir Club—and vice-
versa. “This almost doubles the amount of club
lounges passengers can use with their mem
berships,” McIntyre said.
Don Witte, Piedmont director-marketing ser
vices, will be responsible for sales and marketing
of both the combined club programs and fre
quent traveler programs. Although the adminis
tration and marketing of the clubs will be
combined, the actual identities and operation of
each carrier’s clubs won't be merged until later.
For the past couple of months. Piedmont and
USAir Club officials have met together and with
computer services to plan the administrative
consolidation. One of the first challenges is to de
sign a combined accounting procedure and data
base to help analyze and forecast growth, mem
bership renewals and other aspects of the
program.
“Computer services has been instrumental in
enabling us to accomplish this integration by de
veloping an efficient system,” McIntyre said.
On August 1, all administrative and data base
functions are scheduled to be combined at INT.
In addition, all persons submitting applications
for Piedmont’s Presidential Suite will receive
USAir Club memberships and stations will start
replacing Piedmont applications with those for
USAir As existing Presidential Suite member
ships expire, they will be reissued as USAir Club
memberships.
The service centers for both programs will be
combined at Winston-Salem later this summer.
Currently there are 105 employees in the centers.
Carole Blazer, Piedmont manager-frequent
flyer department, will be responsible for the
merged operation that will combine Piedmont's
Frequent Flyer Service Center and USAir’s Fre
quent TVaveler Service Center Since June 3,
Piedmont has taken a percentage of USAir’s calls
at the INT center and, later this summer, all calls
and correspondence will be handled from INT.
“Personnel at the service centers answer ques
tions that frequent travelers may have about
their accounts, award structures, and the pro
gram itself,” Blazer said. “The combined opera
tion will provide greater efficiency and better
service. We anticipate accomplishing this transi
tion with no disruption in service to our frequent
travelers.’'
Currently. Blazer and USAir officials are deter
mining procedures that will combine the best
features of both centers while maintaining excel
lent service. “Our outstanding staff is working
diligently to achieve this goal, assuring a smooth
transition in a timely fashion,” Blazer said. Like
the consumer affairs departments and airport
club programs, keeping the best from both is the
way this merger is being put together
Ji