PDT PIEDMONT Frequent-flyer program AAdvantage Founder Richard A. Henson CEO Lyle Hogg Parent organization American Airlines Group | Commenced operations 1962 Fleet size 42 Founded 1931 Number of employees 7,000 | |
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Focus cities As American Eagle:
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Alliance Star Alliance (affiliate; 2004-2014)
Oneworld (affiliate; 2014-present) Headquarters Salisbury, Maryland, United States Hubs Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport Profiles | ||
Piedmont Airlines, Inc. /ˈpiːdmɒnt/ is an American regional airline operating for American Eagle, formerly US Airways Express. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group, headquartered in unincorporated Wicomico County, Maryland, near the city of Salisbury. It conducts flight operations using Bombardier Dash 8, and Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft. Its main base is Wicomico Regional Airport, Salisbury, with hubs at Philadelphia International Airport and Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
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1969 piedmont airlines plane lands at woodrum field airport in roanoke
History
The airline was formed in 1961 by Richard A. Henson as Henson Aviation, a fixed-base operator in Hagerstown, Maryland. It began its first scheduled flights to Washington National Airport in 1962 under the Hagerstown Commuter name, later changed to Henson Airlines. Allegheny Airlines (which became US Airways, which in turn has now merged with American Airlines) and Henson began one of the world's first code sharing arrangements in 1967. Henson re-branded itself as an Allegheny Commuter carrier using Beechcraft 99 aircraft. It initially developed a route structure serving Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Baltimore, while establishing a new headquarters for Allegheny Commuter at Salisbury, Maryland in 1968. In the 1970s, the airline upgraded to Short 330 and de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprops.
In 1983, Piedmont Aviation bought Henson and re-branded the airline as "Henson, The Piedmont Regional Airline." Under Piedmont's control, the airline expanded rapidly, particularly in Florida. Both were purchased by the USAir Group in 1987 with Piedmont absorbed two years later and Henson's aircraft repainted in USAir Express livery. The 1980s saw rapid growth by the company with the upgrade of its fleet to the de Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft and fleet expansion. With the growth in capacity, the airline expanded to Florida, including numerous intrastate routes in Florida, and it opened a maintenance facility in Jacksonville.
The Piedmont name was resurrected in 1993, when USAir (now American Airlines) renamed Henson to "Piedmont Airlines", to protect the Piedmont brand name, which could be used by others if not exercised in trade use for a period of time. USAir continued this practice by changing the name of its two other wholly owned regional airline subsidiaries, Jetstream and Allegheny Commuter, to PSA Airlines and Allegheny Airlines, respectively. (Pacific Southwest Airlines was the name of a California-based airline merged into USAir.) In 1997, USAir was renamed US Airways, and Piedmont was likewise re-branded as a US Airways Express carrier. US Airways merged Allegheny Airlines into Piedmont in 2004.
Operations
The airline had more than 7,000 employees, as of March 2017. As of March 2017, the airline operated approximately 400 daily flights to more than 55 unique destinations.
As of December 2013, Piedmont is currently the exclusive operator at Tweed New Haven Airport, Hilton Head Airport, and Williamsport Regional Airport, and is the only operator out of Salisbury–Ocean City–Wicomico Regional Airport.
On October 17, 2015 Piedmont Airlines began flying under the American Eagle brand due to merger of American Airlines and US Airways in December 2013.
Crew bases
Fleet
As of November 2016, the Piedmont Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft: