1978 PI sked in ATL

[Dont call me Shirley]

came across this at departedflights.com while looking for something else.
Surprising how big PI was in ATL in the pre-dereg era.

http://www.departedflights.com/PI121578.html

 

[john john]

Don’t get me started!
PI ROCK IN THE USA
AIRLINE OF THE YEAR ?????????????

 

[wings396]

This was prior to CLT becoming a PI hub, so they were pretty much feeding DL flights out of ATL. At that time PI served many cities that DL didn't, so both airlines made out well with passenger traffic. As time went on, PI got smart and figured that they should start feeding their own Hub. Once CLT got up and running, ATL service was trimmed down.

 

[john john]

This was prior to CLT becoming a PI hub, so they were pretty much feeding DL flights out of ATL. At that time PI served many cities that DL didn't, so both airlines made out well with passenger traffic. As time went on, PI got smart and figured that they should start feeding their own Hub. Once CLT got up and running, ATL service was trimmed down.

And Eastern was big in ATL and PI cherry pick them as well

 

[wings396]

Yes, that is also true. I know that at one time PI & DL had a pretty good relationship, until PI started stepping on their toes a bit. Most of the conx that I dealt with "back in the day" that were going thru ATL were transferring over to DL. Needless to say, EA wasn't all that happy with the start-up hub in CLT since that was a large station of theirs. Bill Howard came to PI from EA, and he knew where they were weak. It was after his arrival that the CLT hub came to be. Prior to that PI wanted to make a hub in ROA, but from what I recall the airport wasn't willing to expand the runways etc to accomodate PI. I wasnt' a big fan of Howard's, but he got the ball rolling after dereguation at PI. He was nowhere near the "people person" that Tom Davis was.

 

[700UW]

PI also had the exclusive right to distribute all the Fokker parts in the US and Fokker was based in ATL.

 

[hp-csr-phx]

The schedule for Tri-Cities surprises me. Was this a commuter hub?

PIEDMONT AIRLINES (Nov 1979)
Aircraft Operated:
Boeing 727-100, Boeing 737-200, NAMC YS-11
Destinations Served:
Asheville (NC), Atlanta (GA), Charleston (WV) Charlotte (NC), Chicago O'Hare (IL), Lexington (KY), London (KY),
Louisville (KY), Lynchburg (VA), Richmond (VA), Roanoke (VA), Winston-Salem (NC)

Departed Flights

 

[JS]

The schedule for Tri-Cities surprises me. Was this a commuter hub?

PIEDMONT AIRLINES (Nov 1979)
Aircraft Operated:
Boeing 727-100, Boeing 737-200, NAMC YS-11
Destinations Served:
Asheville (NC), Atlanta (GA), Charleston (WV) Charlotte (NC), Chicago O'Hare (IL), Lexington (KY), London (KY),
Louisville (KY), Lynchburg (VA), Richmond (VA), Roanoke (VA), Winston-Salem (NC)

Departed Flights

They didn't have a hub-and-spoke system back then. Some airports had more flights owing to their geographic location, such as TRI and ROA, where people would stop along the way to their final destinations. Rather than operate separate flights to TRI and TYS, PI would operate one flight to TRI continuing to TYS. Same with ROA-LYH, which is really short, but it allowed them to operate one flight rather than two.

I wish airlines still did this, because it cuts down on congestion at the hub, but I guess those days are over.

 

[wings396]

I recall we had a flight that went EWR-ROA-TRI-ORD, and we put more ORD passengers O/B than any others. These were the days of the "Hopscothch fares", and people loved them. Keep in mind that both UA & AA had several non-stops a day from EWR-ORD, so it wasn't like they had no other option.

 

[john john]

The schedule for Tri-Cities surprises me. Was this a commuter hub?

PIEDMONT AIRLINES (Nov 1979)
Aircraft Operated:
Boeing 727-100, Boeing 737-200, NAMC YS-11
Destinations Served:
Asheville (NC), Atlanta (GA), Charleston (WV) Charlotte (NC), Chicago O'Hare (IL), Lexington (KY), London (KY),
Louisville (KY), Lynchburg (VA), Richmond (VA), Roanoke (VA), Winston-Salem (NC)

Departed Flights

There was NO Express/commuter all mainline

 

[700UW]

Didnt PI use Henson as Express?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Not in the 70's. PI bought Henson in 1983.

Jim

 

[john john]

Didnt PI use Henson as Express?

Not sure when Henson came over form Allegheny late 79 early 80 maybe. Henson replace some cities PI got to pull out of because of deregulation

 

[JS]

When I was a kid, around 1980, my family and I used to fly LYH-CLT-ATL-SHV, or LYH-CLT-ATL-DFW, with the LYH-CLT leg on USAir and the ATL-SHV or ATL-DFW leg on Delta (I don't remember which airline was CLT-ATL). One time we flew out of ROA, and I remember ROA being so much bigger than LYH. They had jetways, too. 🙂

 

[BoeingBoy]

Actually, the LYH-CLT legs would have most likely been on PI - US didn't serve CLT till after the US/PI merger.

Jim