Piedmont Airlines


Piedmont Airlines, Inc. 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 Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft. Piedmont Airlines, Inc. also provides ground handling and customer service for airports in the northeastern and western United States. Its main base is Philadelphia International Airport with an additional hub at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

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 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 Airlines 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 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 Suburban Airlines, to PSA Airlines and Allegheny Airlines, respectively. In 1997, USAir was renamed US Airways, and Piedmont and Allegheny were likewise re-branded as US Airways Express carriers. US Airways merged Allegheny Airlines into Piedmont in 2004.

Operations

The airline had more than 7,000 employees, as of December 2017. As of December 2017, the airline operated approximately 400 daily flights to more than 55 destinations.
As of August 2018, Piedmont is currently the exclusive operator at Williamsport Regional Airport, and Salisbury Regional Airport.
Piedmont Airlines currently flies under the American Eagle brand, after a merger of American Airlines and US Airways in December 2013.
The airline operates maintenance bases at Philadelphia International Airport, Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Roanoke Municipal Airport, Richmond International Airport, Harrisburg International Airport, Salisbury Regional Airport, and Albany International Airport.

Crew bases

Piedmont has crew bases in two locations:
As of January 2020, the Piedmont Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft.

Retired fleet

AircraftIntroductionRetiredReplacementNotes
Beechcraft Model 9919671987Short 330
Short 33019771989de Havilland Canada Dash 8-100
de Havilland Canada Dash 719791997de Havilland Canada Dash 8-300
de Havilland Canada Dash 8-10019932017Embraer ERJ-145Last flight was November 29, 2017.
de Havilland Canada Dash 8-20019962008
de Havilland Canada Dash 8-30020002018Embraer ERJ-145Last flight was July 4, 2018.

Incidents and accidents