“This is a vote of confidence from American and a goal we worked very hard to achieve,” said President and CEO Lyle Hogg. “American had previously committed 20 jets to Piedmont and we are pleased that our parent company will now continue to increase that number. The expanding fleet of jets puts Piedmont on an exciting path to the future, and that will lead to even more opportunities.”
Piedmont began operating the E145 regional jet in February, and has taken delivery of seven jets so far. All Piedmont jets will operate out of the American Airlines Philadelphia hub.
“We will greatly expand our operations in Philadelphia, including placing more crew members there,” said Hogg. Piedmont offers a $15,000 signing bonus to new hire pilots and plans to hire more than 200 pilots in 2016. “This is a very good opportunity for pilots who want to work for an airline that promises growth, stability and a guaranteed job at American Airlines one day."
As a result of the accelerated jet expansion, Piedmont will begin to transition away from its traditional aircraft, the de Havilland DHC-8 turboprop. Piedmont expects to start retiring turboprop aircraft at a rate of about one aircraft per month. “The Dash has served us well for years,” said Hogg, “but we know that passengers prefer the regional jets and we want to provide the best service we can for American and for our customers.”
The expansion of Piedmont’s jet fleet comes amid growth in other areas of the company. Piedmont is adding 300 customer service jobs in Charlotte, N.C. this year and recently opened a new maintenance base in Richmond, Virginia. “At a time when so many regional airlines are shrinking, we are adding jobs across the country, adding aircraft, adding new routes,” said Hogg. “It’s exciting to be part of a very robust American Airlines Group and we’re thrilled to be part of that success.”
11 comments:
The Dash 8 is a POS!! They are broken down more than they fly.
Maybe this will help with delays and cancellations out of SBY!
Joe, thanks for posting this information.
I always look forward to the first couple of comments from the usual gang who will complain about anything.
2:36 Maybe is you could leave the couch once in a while and enjoy life outside of da bury, you'd see how poorly SBY and American Airlines are run! LOL!
bobby you finally got your regional jets, since they are pulling out, sby ought to at least charge them landing fees! bet they pay em in philly>
Henson/Piedmont has provided jobs and job security to quite a few people over the years. New hires brought skills not readily available here and settled here.
The USAir and American merger will take some time to iron out but if new aircraft are not going to be maintained here it's a worrisome sign.
In a very real sense Salisbury is almost too close to PHL, BWI, DCA, ORF to make jet flights profitable while the turbo props could. Jets are more efficient at higher altitudes and the short legs mentioned are iffy.
We've been spoiled and could quickly find ourselves back to service levels like the Allegheny Airlines days.
Wait til you hear those jets pulling out at dawn shaking the windows all around.
Hate to let the air out of your sails but those jets are 30,000 cycle "hand me downs" from Envoy and out of seven of them we're lucky if two are flying daily! the dash's are way more reliable and for cost of maintenance and ground support a waaaay better plane. Piedmont should have taken a step years ago and got Dash-8 400's which would fit our lines of flight better and carried more people than the Embraer 145's are now.
After reading different articles. It almost seems to me that Wicomico Co. spend a pretty penny on expanding runways for nothing. And for "Anonymous July 16, 2016 at 2:13pm". If you think the Dash-8 is a POS, well... as crystal clear as it can be the E-145 is X100 a POS. The Dash-8 has proven to be a far more reliable aircraft than an Embraer 145. Also, before calling the Dash a POS... Consider this, the POS's as you call them have been taking an almost 80,000 cycle regional beating and the are still flying strong. This a type of beating a jet cannot take. Jets are only made for high altitude, long distance and less cycles per day. Honestly the company "Piedmont" should have gone for the Q-400 when they had the chance. Piedmont need aircrafts that are tough regional work horses, not pretty broken wrist jets that needs to be nannied constally. But some people just can't get their heads out of their asses.
If Piedmont could gotten the Q400 they would have. USAirways and ALPA would not let them. ie Scope clause
Well They are other 50 seater turbo prop manufactures out there that USAirways / American and ALPA could have looked into and agreed on for the short / low altitude routes. But USAirways / American brass, bean counters and ALPA are soo focus on pilot contracts and pretty jets, they are not realizing that the airline does not revolve only around pilots and aircrafts alone. They seem to forgot there are mechanics, maintenance control, dispatch, flight attendants, aircraft ground handling, ticket agents, GSE, and the list goes on that are also involve in an airline operation. Also when it comes to the jets in this case the E-145, perhaps some airports might, but also some might not modify their runways and County or City noise restriction laws. Which in this case the airline's regional branch is restricting and shooting themselves on the foot.
I hope I am wrong about this... But obviously USAiways / American plans for the jet don't seem to include Salisbury Regional. Whish it is sad after all the airport modification efforts and for the sake of conveniency of having an airline in the peninsula instead of having to deal with the awesome roadrage drive to BWI or PHL. And most important in my own opinion this could lead to loss of jobs as well as the Dashes go Bye...Bye.
$15,000 sign in bonus for pilots. What happen with the rest of the employees? What do they get???
Yeap!... Lets roll the red carpet for the pilots. Apparently they are the company's only saviors... LMAO!!!
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