Piedmont Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered at Salisbury Regional Airport in Wicomico County, Maryland. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines Group, it operates under the American Eagle brand, providing scheduled passenger services to over 55 destinations, primarily in the eastern United States, with nearly 400 daily departures. The airline employs more than 10,000 aviation professionals and operates a fleet of Embraer ERJ 145 regional jets. Its main hubs are Philadelphia International Airport and Charlotte Douglas International Airport, with additional maintenance bases in Albany, Harrisburg, Richmond, Roanoke, and Salisbury, and crew bases in Charlotte, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia. Piedmont also provides ground handling and customer service at over 80 airports across the U.S. The company emphasizes safety, reliability, and a caring workplace, offering competitive benefits, including travel perks within the American Airlines network, medical, dental, and life insurance, paid training, and mentorship programs.
Brief History Piedmont Airlines traces its roots to 1931, when Richard A. Henson founded Henson Flying Service, a fixed-base operator in Hagerstown, Maryland. In 1961, it became Henson Aviation and began scheduled passenger service in 1962 as Hagerstown Commuter, later rebranded as Henson Airlines. In 1967, it entered a pioneering codeshare agreement with Allegheny Airlines (predecessor to US Airways), operating as an Allegheny Commuter with Beechcraft 99 aircraft. The airline relocated its headquarters to Salisbury, Maryland, in 1968 and upgraded its fleet to Short 330 and de Havilland Canada Dash 7 turboprops in the 1970s.
In 1983, Piedmont Aviation, a separate entity founded in 1940 by Thomas H. Davis in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, acquired Henson Airlines, rebranding it as “Henson, The Piedmont Regional Airline.” This followed the original Piedmont Airlines (1948–1989), a major carrier that grew from a local service airline operating Douglas DC-3s to a significant player with Boeing 727s, 737s, and 767s, serving 95 airports by 1989. It pioneered the hub-and-spoke system and was known for exceptional customer service, earning “Airline of the Year” in 1984. USAir acquired Piedmont Aviation in 1987, absorbing the original Piedmont in 1989 and repainting Henson’s fleet in USAir Express livery.
In 1993, USAir renamed Henson Airlines to Piedmont Airlines to preserve the Piedmont brand, which risked being lost due to trademark laws. US Airways (formerly USAir) merged Allegheny Airlines into Piedmont in 2004, and following the 2013 merger of US Airways with American Airlines, Piedmont began operating under the American Eagle brand. The airline transitioned to an all-Embraer ERJ 145 fleet by 2015, focusing on regional routes. Despite safety incidents, such as the 1968 Flight 230 crash and the 1985 Flight 1517 crash, Piedmont has maintained a strong safety focus and continues to prioritize reliable service and community engagement.
Today, Piedmont Airlines remains a key component of American Airlines’ regional network, serving smaller markets and supporting major hubs with a commitment to safety, customer service, and employee development.
