What should have been...

[a320av8r]

An interesting photo of what should have been.
ryefly.tripod.com/pages/piedmont.html
Still waiting for the cool northern efficiency to kick in.

 

[wings396]

That is a good one...it makes me wonder where we could have been today with competent management for the last 12 years..the one thing that I must say, is that PI went head to head with the competition instead of letting them run us out of town year after year.

 

[wings396]

 

[wings396]

When it came to competition, PI bowed to nobody..ever...we went up against PE with their $19 fares and gave full service along with it. They pulled back on many of our markets after a while. PI built the CLT hub right under EA's nose and eventually took it all. AA tried to squeeze PI in CLT with their RDU hub and failed also. Make no mistakes about it, when PI opened the DAY & SYR hubs, US knew they had to buy PI to stop us. US NEVER knew how to deal with competiton as many of their routes in the NE were not operated by anyone else. Once DL & AA started to move into the NE, marketing was baffled and has been ever since.

 

[nycbusdriver]

[blockquote]
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On 2/17/2003 2:41:57 PM Light Years wrote:

Either Piedmont or USAir would have merged/been bought by somebody. I really dont think there would be a stand-alone carrier with major hubs at places like Dayton Ohio and Syracuse New York in this day and age. The lesson learned , I think, is when you put two things together, its best try and use what was good about both entities, instead of not being open to new ideas.
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[/blockquote]

The other lesson learned: Don't push the REAL talent out the door to make room for your good ol' boys.

 

[Mike W]

Uh,
If memory serves me correctly,US Air bought Piedmont to get large enough to keep TWA from buying them.

 

[Light Years]

Either Piedmont or USAir would have merged/been bought by somebody. I really dont think there would be a stand-alone carrier with major hubs at places like Dayton Ohio and Syracuse New York in this day and age. The lesson learned , I think, is when you put two things together, its best try and use what was good about both entities, instead of not being open to new ideas.

 

[skyflyr69]

I can only dream how far Usairways would have gone if they hadn't bought PSA and Piedmont. Colodny was doing a great job. then those mint julep sipping boys sitting on the porch in their big white rocking chairs said show us the money and we'll forget about the PI people.
Don't forget who sold you out.

 

[Non Rever]

PI was on the verge of out-growing their good 'ol boys pants. If it hadnt of been for US buying PI someone else would have.
PI would have never remained a stand alone carrier. With all the nepotism in hiring at PI we were short of real management and talent. The ol days were great, I yearn for the ol Speedbird,
but those days are just a memory.

 

[fatherabraham]

[blockquote]
----------------
On 2/17/2003 345 PM skyflyr69 wrote:

I can only dream how far Usairways would have gone if they hadn't bought PSA and Piedmont. Colodny was doing a great job. then those mint julep sipping boys sitting on the porch in their big white rocking chairs said show us the money and we'll forget about the PI people.
Don't forget who sold you out.
----------------
[/blockquote]

Skyflyer69,
great post, all of the original Usair folk
have heard enough from the employees of the airlines that were purchased by Usair!
Come on already, good Lord...it has been 15 years. Get over it.
BTW all you victims, the original U employees were quite happy prior to mergers as well. After all some 14 profital years had passed with finally some hiring....that is till 88 when the good times slowed fast.[img src='http://www.usaviation.com/idealbb/images/smilies/15.gif']

 

[Atlantic]

Father,
Not to add fuel.
All of these a/c were put on the block.
None were in control of thier future.
Looking back,WS would have been a better match for AAA.
And not nearly the heart burn.

 

[delldude]

[blockquote]
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On 2/17/2003 11:58:32 AM wings396 wrote:

When it came to competition, PI bowed to nobody..ever...we went up against PE with their $19 fares and gave full service along with it. They pulled back on many of our markets after a while. PI built the CLT hub right under EA's nose and eventually took it all. AA tried to squeeze PI in CLT with their RDU hub and failed also. Make no mistakes about it, when PI opened the DAY & SYR hubs, US knew they had to buy PI to stop us. US NEVER knew how to deal with competiton as many of their routes in the NE were not operated by anyone else. Once DL & AA started to move into the NE, marketing was baffled and has been ever since.
----------------
[/blockquote]
yea,an u closed DAY.

 

[X-U]

[blockquote]
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On 2/17/2003 12:35:46 AM a320av8r wrote:

An interesting photo of what should have been.

ryefly.tripod.com/pages/piedmont.html

Still waiting for the "cool northern efficiency" to kick in.
----------------
[/blockquote]
I don't think buying MD-11s would have reflected very well on PI. They are a piece of crap. AA practically gave them away to FedEx just to get rid of them. The actual performance was not as it was advertised.

 

[delldude]

from personal experience:
piedmont maintenence was very poorly accomplished.having worked at various component shops after the merger,i can tell you we had more components that were operated literally on baleing wire and a shoestring.we sent small things like 737-200 motor mounts through our machine shop for small repairs like the mount bushings were out of limits WELL before we recieved them.(remember piedmont dropped one in erie around merger time.)all sorts of related components were sent out in questionable condition as a matter of regularity.to this day we are trying to unravel the engine manuals here in PIT as things weren't done"as per the m/m"....i'm not b/s'ing here either.what was turned out as a product in PIT and CLT weren't exactly the way they should have been.when we took the 737 'q' checks over,and the reason was they weren't getting done down south,we had a rough time making the 35-45 day req'd turn time for heavies.we had all kinds keel beam hvy corrosion...all penciled down south...from prior checks.you alpa guys should be thankful to your god you made it this far.and you're concerned for your PENSION?be lucky you've made it this far!its unbelievable as to what has gone down in the 'lower states'.
PIT got stuck with doing a 737 landing gear changes due to problems at 'c-chk'...like pencil whipping grease jobs...its all documented.....you alpa guys don't know what lucky is.
we're hearing now,once again...airbus 'q's may be coming up because as i said before,we get the work done on time....southern boyz don't.time will bear me out.it already has before.

 

[wings396]

[blockquote]
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On 2/17/2003 2:34:58 PM Mike W wrote:

Uh,
If memory serves me correctly,US Air bought Piedmont to get large enough to keep TWA from buying them.
----------------
[/blockquote]
And to keep PI from killing them with the DAY hub drawing off PIT and SYR that would have taken traffic away in a lot of other NE cities. We all knew that DAY would not survive as a hub being so close to PIT, just as BWI wouldn't being near PHL. If Colodny was so bright, why did he run like hell after the mergers and leave Seth with such a mess????? It has been downhill ever since. If we would have kept Bethune for one, we could have done better.