around
he indus
Department of TVansportation (DOT) Sec
retary Jim Burnley and Deputy Secretary
Mimi Weyforth Dawson plan to resign their
respective positions effective January 20,
1989. Both intend to return to the private
sector.
* * *
The Federal Aviation Administration has
ordered airlines that operate DC-9 aircraft to
perform eddy current inspections for skin
and longeron cracks in the upper fuselage
over the wing. Both actions are the result of
supplemental structural inspections which
found skin or longeron cracks on at least
23 aircraft, including several operated by
USAir.
♦ * *
Northwest announced that it plans an
aggressive growth plan, with capacity to ex
pand 13 to 15 percent during 1989. In
cluded in the growth plan are the addition of
17 aircraft, an 11 percent increase in domes
tic available seat miles, an increase in domi
nance at current hubs, and substantial
growth in the Pacific.
* * *
As part of a plan to double its operations,
Dulles-based Presidential Airways will
spend $180 million to buy 16 de Havilland
Dash 8-300 planes to be delivered and in
service between next spring and 1991. The
purchase will allow the airline, which pro
vides feeder service for United Airlines, to
increase its daily departures from Dulles to
164 from the current 66 over the next three
years as well as expand its service on the
East Coast including cities in Connecticut,
upstate New York, the Ohio Valley and the
Carolinas.
* ♦ *
America West began new service at Palm
Springs, CA, on December 10, with two
daily nonstops to its Phoenix base and one
daily nonstop to its hub at Las Vegas.
* ♦ ♦
Pan Am resumed service to Jacksonville.
FL, December 15 with a daily flight from
New York Kennedy via Atlanta.
* * *
A record 130 million Americans—73 per
cent of the adult population —have flown,
according to the Air Transport Association's
1988 Air Travel Survey. The survey reports
that three in 10 adults flew during the past
year. Exactly 50 percent of all trips were for
personal/pleasure reasons and 50 percent
were for business purposes.
* * *
American Airlines will expand its Euro
pean route system in mid-1989 by introduc
ing daily service between the U.S. and
Brussels. Belgium; Stockholm, Sweden;
Lyon, France; and Hamburg, West Ger
many. The expansion will increase Ameri
can’s operations in Europe to a total of 119
flights a week serving 13 destinations.
* * *
On November 14, DOT Secretary Jim
Burnley announced the final rules for em
ployee drug testing in all modes of transpor
tation supervised by the DOT, which will
cover about 538.000 aviation industry em
ployees including pilots, flight attendants,
mechanics, airport security screening per
sonnel, flight engineers, and flight dispatch
ers. The rules require pre-employment
tests, periodic testing administered at an
nual physicals, post-accident tests, and test
ing whenever an employer has reasonable
cause to suspect drug use. The new rules,
which include random testing, have been
denounced as intrusive by airline and rail
road union representatives, who have vowed
a court challenge.
Martin leaves Piedmont
J. Leonard Martin, a 33-year Pied
mont veteran who worked his way up
the corporate ladder to the top level po
sition of senior vice president-passenger
services, left the company November
30 to pursue other interests.
Martin, well-known and liked by em
ployees systemwide, saw Piedmont’s
fleet grow from 13 DC-3s at the end of
1955 to our current 197 jets, and the
number of employees increase during
the same period from 850 to 22,000.
“1 recall that when we added the
Martin 404 in 1961, we all wondered
how we would fill up that huge cargo
bin,” Martin reminisced. “By the air
craft’s second flight out of Charlottes
ville, both the cargo bin and passenger
seats were full.”
A native of Bassett, VA. Martin be
gan his career with Piedmont at the
age of 19 as an agent at Norfolk. A
month later, he transferred to Char
lottesville where he worked as an
agent for seven years. He moved to At
lanta as lead station agent in 1962
when Piedmont began service there. In
1963 Martin became customer service
manager and in 1967. assistant station
manager at Atlanta. When Piedmont
began service to Dulles in 1968, Mar
tin was named station manager.
In late 1969, Piedmont began service
to Chicago, and Martin moved there as
Midway Airport’s station manager. In
1973, Martin transferred to Piedmont’s
headquarters in Winston-Salem as
director-customer services. Three years
later, he was promoted to director-
inflight services, and in 1980, became
staff vice president-inflight services.
Martin was named staff vice president-
passenger services in early 1982 and
vice president-passenger services later
Martin
that year. He was
named senior vice
president in 1985.
‘‘I can’t recall a
single day when I
got up and thought
to myself. ‘I don't
want to go to work’,’ ’
Martin said in a re
cent interview.
"If I could relive
these years all over
again, I wouldn’t change a thing. . .and
I would really like to relive them. Pied
mont has afforded me the opportunity
to work with some of the greatest peo
ple in the world. I have a tremendous
amount of friends within the company
and with employees at other carriers,
and my life has been much richer for it.”
Martin is currently a member of the
Advisory Council for the School of
Business and Accountancy at Wake
Forest University and recently served a
term as chairperson of the organization.
He is also on the Council’s five-member
executive committee. In addition, Mar
tin is on the executive committee and
the board of directors of Winston-
Salem Business, Inc., a group involved
in recruiting business to the Winston-
Salem area.
‘‘The Piedmont team has been the
most compatible group anyone could
ever hope to work with,” Martin said.
■‘Since deregulation in particular, we
have been on an absolute merry-go-
round, and in all that time, I never re
member one person saying ‘we can’t
do that'. Piedmont’s history is one in
which each and every one of us can
take a lot of pride.”
raffic
Piedmont
Passengers
RPMs (000)
ASMS (000)
Load Factor
Nov. ’88
2,287,914
1,094,216
1.889,753
57.9%
Nov. ’87
2,168.306
983,509
1,630,604
60.3%
Year-to-Date
24,975,618
11.986,202
20,109,096
59.6%
Change
+ 19.0%
-1-26.9%
-^28.7%
- 0.9 pts.
Change
-I- 5.5%
+ 11.3%
15.9%
- 2.4 pts.
Record November for passengers. ASMs. and RPMs.
On Wednesday. November 23. PiednjonL set a record for boardings with 110,133 passen
gers. On Sunday. November 27. we surpassed that record with 117.960 passengers.
Record enplanen^ents were set at PHL. PHX. and SAN in November.
Our seven reservations centers answered 2.948.304 calls in November.
USAir
Passengers
RPMs (000)
ASMs (000)
Load Factor
Nov. '88
2,782,573
1.501,395
2.522.280
59.5%
Nov. ’87
2,060,242
1.087,197
1.717,639
63.3%
Change
+ 35.1%
-1-38.1%
-1-46.8%
- 3.8 pts.
Year-to-Date
29,897.342
15.869,423
25,628.012
61.9%
Change
-1-31.6%
-h32,7%
-1-40.6%
- 3.7 pts.
'Record November for passengers, ASMs. and RPMs.
*USAir's November traffic results include those of PSA which was merged into USAir on
April 9.
Piedmonifor undergoes changes
As part of the program to integrate
Piedmont and USAir employee com
munications programs, a transitional
publication for both companies ivill
debut in January 1989. It ivill con
tinue publication until the actual
operational merger, at which time a
single, integrated publication will be
produced.
The transitional publication will be
published biweekly. Although the de
sign will change, the paper will con
tinue to carry the Piedmonitor name.
A biweekly production schedule will
allow the publication to provide more
timely information.
Bill Kress, formerly public relations
representative with Piedmont, will be
the new editor with offices in USAir’s
Corporate Communications Depart
ment in Washington, DC.
According to Kress, the new USAir
News/transitional Piedmonitor will
be a combination of the best qualities
of the two existing newspapers, and
he will continue to work to improve the
company publication in the months
ahead. Employees who wish to sub
mit information or story ideas can
contact Kress at Dialnet 892-7115.
I would like to take this opportunity
to thank the many people at Pied
mont who have contributed stories,
information, ideas, and moral sup
port since last April when I assumed
the duties of acting editor The
cooperation I have received through
out the system has made my Job eas
ier and certainly enjoyable. Thanks
also to the photographers and the em
ployees at Wooten Printing Company
who have consistently produced a
high quality publication. Last, but
not least, thanks to the readers. My
objective was to keep you informed,
and I hope I have done that.
—Holly Coffey, acting editor
Piedmonitor • December 1988