The last day of Piedmont Airlines - CNN Headline News - August 4, 1989

The video quality here is horrible and I apologize. But it is an important part of Piedmont's history because it chronicles the last day of scheduled service and an interview with Ed Laskowski who was one of Piedmont's first employees.
In addition to the story he tells here about his first day, Mr. Laskowski was the first Piedmont employee to find out the airline had won a lawsuit brought on by State Airlines challenging their certification by the CAB.
He answered the phone at Cincinnati's Piedmont Ticket Counter on February 6, 1950 and it was a reporter from the Cincinnati Times-Star. He asked, "Are you interested in the Supreme Court's decision on State Airlines vs. Piedmont? The Court has voted 6 to 2 in favor of Piedmont." He immediately sent a Teletype message to dispatch. When they read the news in Winston-Salem, there were "tears of joy among all employees." Piedmont was free to continue building their airline.
Just over 2 years later, on May 26, 1952, in an unprecedented move, the CAB awarded Piedmont a 7 year certificate to operate. The normal renewal term was 5 years.
In awarding the extended certificate the CAB said, “The record achieved by Piedmont is so outstanding as to merit special recognition. By renewing Piedmont’s certificate for seven years, we could reward the carrier for its achievement and thereby offer an incentive to other carriers to strive for comparable results.”
Piedmont became the first local service airline to be awarded a 7 year certificate.

[@ronivester529]

Really miss that wonderful Airlines!

[@stitch-xx2oo]

Sad day for PIedmont and the rest of the airline industry.

[@michaelargenta3856]

Great video ~ i miss that great Airline /...

[@ColeGaskins]

How did that work out for ya?

[@airpiedmont]

Yeah, not too well, huh?

[@gunsaway1]

USAir really sucked.

[@andysorensen1737]

What was the other merger that day?

[@ExpoAviation]

I think it was Flying Tiger Line into FedEx as that was in early August but I think was off by a couple of days.