[page 1] - [page 2] - [page 3]

Setting the Pace - The Piedmont Report

Piedmont Airlines has always been an industry leader. The company was setting the pace for more than 40 years. We had a look to the remarkable history of this airline, from its humble beginnings to the merger, which finally putted an end to the Route of the Pacemaker. A report by Michael Meier.

The early Years

The official history of Piedmont Airlines begun when their first flight took off in 1948. But the story started long before, with the birth of Thomas Henry Davis in 1918, who later became the founder and chairman of Piedmont Airlines.

Tom Davis was fascinated by aviation since his early years. At the age of 16, he took his first flying lessons and some years later he started his career in the aviation industry. In 1939, he started to work for Camel City Flying Service as a salesman for Piper and Stinson aircraft, after he successfully graduated the University in Tucson, Arizona.

In 1940, the company and its owner L.S. McGinnis had problems in paying a note. Tom Davis stepped in, paid off the note and became the vice-president, treasurer, principal stockholder of Camel City Flying Service. In 1940, he renamed the company in Piedmont Aviation.

The idea for the famous aircraft names of Piedmont was also born during that time. "Piedmont sets the Pace" was the motto since the first days. That's why they started to call their aircrafts "Pacemakers". It's a homage to the famous Wright Brothers, which made the first flight in mankind at Kitty Hawk, Piedmont's home state North Carolina.

Beside the aircraft sales, Piedmont Aviation trained a lot of pilots which later served for the US Army during the war. But Davis soon realized that the government contract will be cancelled with the end of the war and he would have to lay off a large part of his staff. To get a new core business for his company, Davis applied to the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for a certificate to operate a local-service passenger, mail and cargo route in the southeast of the United States. It was a hard fight, but on April 4, 1947, Piedmont received the rights for route 87, linking various cities in North Carolina to the Ohio River Valley.

Preparations for the new scheduled service were going on fast, the inaugural flight was set for September 7, 1947. Three Douglas DC-3s were ready for the start. But the take off had to be postponed after an unsuccessful applicant protested against the CAB's decision for Piedmont. The case went up to the highest court in the United States, the US Supreme Court. Tom Davis won. After that, Piedmont Aviation was formed on January 1, 1948 as a holding company for the airline and Piedmont General Aviation.

At February 20, 1948, Piedmont Airlines flight 41 took off from Wilmington (NC) to Cincinnati, with stops in various smaller cities across the route. It was the first flight for the newly founded airline with one paying passenger aboard, beside of some company executives. But that was not the airline's only passenger. Already during the first year, Piedmont carried 80'000 passengers, leading to total revenues of US$ 1.6 Millions.

Building up an Airline

After the first flight successfully took off, the airline started to expanding quite fast. New cities were added to the network and already in the first year, the company booked a small profit into their books.

The temporary certificate from the CAB was valid for only three years and renewal applications had to be filled within this time. The CAB did then take a close look on the company and its operations before granting another certificate, which was normally valid for a maximum period of five years. After hearings and reviews, the CAB granted Piedmont in 1952 a renewal for seven years, because they were so confident about how Piedmont was performing. It was the longest ever renewal by the CAB so far. In 1959, the CAB granted the airline a permanent operating certificate. By then, the fleet consisted of 16 DC-3 aircraft and a work force of 800 employees.

In the 1950s, the expansion went on. Cities like Washington D.C., Columbus, Charlottesville, Norfolk, Knoxville Greensboro, Charlotte, and many more were added to the Piedmont schedule over the next years.

During this massive expansion, it became clear that the aging fleet of DC-3s needed to be replaced. As Piedmont was serving mostly smaller cities instead of the large ones with more traffic, they had special aircraft requirements. Davis and his team figured out what their "perfect aircraft" should be like. They then went to the industry, visiting every major aircraft manufacturer in the States and several in Europe. In the Netherlands, the people from Piedmont were warmly welcome. The Fokker Company constructed an aircraft which matched the desired specifications very much. Davis was sure that he found a great aircraft for his airline - and he was right.

Fokker teamed up with Fairchild in the USA and in 1958, Piedmont Airlines took delivery of the first eight Fokker F-27, a turboprop aircraft with about 40 seats. An additional fleet upgrade took place in 1961, when Piedmont took over all 17 of TWA's remaining Martin 404 aircraft under very favorable terms. And at the 20th February 1963 an era ended, when the DC-3 made its last revenue flight for Piedmont, exactly 25 years after the inaugural flight.

With the new fleet, the route network continued to grow. New York, Nashville Memphis and Chicago made it to the map. At the same time, the list of airliners was growing too.

The fleet expansion program continued with the addition of the Fairchild FH-227, and the Nihon YS-11s, a turboprop aircraft for 60 passengers. In 1967, Piedmont entered the jet age with the inauguration of the Boeing 727. After a year, these jetliners were joined by 12 Boeing 737, which became the backbone of the modern fleet. During the following years, the jetliner fleet was getting bigger and bigger, more aircrafts have been added of both, the models 727 and 737.

New Challenges: The Deregulation Act

With the late 1970s, a new challenge approached for the airlines in the United States. Until then, all airlines had guaranteed routes, there was no competition on the inter-state routes. Piedmont had, as all the other airlines under the regulated system, its routes. The airlines made a lot of money on their granted routes. In 1978, the US Congress started to talk about the deregulation act. Almost all the airlines started to lobby against the act to protect their monopoles. But the airline industry didn't win. In October 1978, the deregulation act became law. Airlines faced competition on interstate routes for the first time. It's obviously known what happened then. Airlines such as Pan Am, Eastern, Braniff and several smaller carriers broke down sooner or later as they couldn't handle the new challenges.

But there were also winners after the deregulation act. Southwest for example, they started to spread their wings outside of Texas. And Piedmont Airlines, which also handled the new challenges well. In only three years, they expanded more than they did in the last 30 years under the act. The deregulation leaded to less airlines and more competition. Even if it's sometimes hard to believe from today's travelers view, service became also more important to the airlines, including Piedmont. They had to be better than their competitors, either in the price or service.

In December 1981, Piedmont opened a new hub in Charlotte, which became very important in the airline's upcoming expansion. 77 destinations were added to that hub until 1989. Furthermore the Dayton hub was opened a year later, in 1982. With 16 daily flights to 9 destinations in the beginning.

Size wasn't everything for Piedmont, even if they were one of the fastest growing airlines in the United States. In 1983 they took a step to further expansion when Henson Airlines, based in Salisbury (MD), was acquired. Henson had a small fleet of turboprop aircraft as the Shorts 3-30 and the DeHavilland Dash 7. After the merger, Henson Airlines operated as "Henson, The Piedmont Regional Airline".

>> Go to Page 2 to read the second part

All Pictures by: JetPiedmont.com (Piedmont Aviation Historical Society).