Pilot Air Freight announced the winners of the first annual Distinguished Domestic Air Carrier Awards. Pilot established these prestigious awards to recognize outstanding air carriers who help Pilot consistently exceed its customers' expectations by reliably and affordably delivering more than 400 million pounds of freight every year.
Pilot's Distinguished Domestic Air Carrier Awards recognize air carriers in four categories: 'Number One Domestic Commercial Air Carrier,' 'Best On-Time Performance,' 'Number One Domestic Air Carrier,' and overall 'Best Overall Air Carrier.' This year's award winners include: Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines and Kitty Hawk Cargo.
o 2004 Best Overall Air Carrier and 2004 Best On-Time Performance: Southwest Airlines. Southwest was recognized for outstanding service overall. The carrier had an impressive 99.78% on-time performance for 2004, "We're honored to receive this award, which validates Southwest's commitment to on-time performance and outstanding customer service," says Wally Devereaux, National Account Sales Manager of Southwest Airlines. "We're very proud of our successful long-standing freight forwarding partnership with Pilot." John Sullivan, Area Sales Manager for Southwest, joined Wally to accept this prestigious honor.
o 2004 Number One Commercial Air Carrier: Delta Airlines. Delta took the category for domestic commercial carriers by handling a large volume of Pilot freight through their system. Barry Lien, corporate general manager of Delta was on hand to receive the award.
o 2004 Number One Domestic Air Carrier: Kitty Hawk Cargo. Kitty Hawk prides itself in its unique ability to handle oversize overnight products, and its reliable network sustains that. Accepting the award for Kitty Hawk was Raymond Robinson, National Account Sales Manager.
Pilot committee members Lou Cortese, Executive Vice President of Operations and Transportation, and Wil Vergara, Director of Air Transportation, evaluated 12 of the company's domestic airline partners to choose the top performers in each of the four categories. Winners were selected based on data submitted by the individual Pilot stations, which was collected and scrutinized every month. The most distinguished of the awards is that for the 'Most On-Time." The committee and Pilot Air Freight consider the following to be paramount in selecting winners for this annual award: flexibility on rates and system operation, availability of managers and sales people to discuss ongoing issues, as well as immediate response to issues and challenges.
"We provide excellent service for our customers because we partner with the finest air carriers in the industry," says Richard G. Phillips, Chairman, President, and CEO of Pilot Air Freight. "The Distinguished Domestic Air Carrier Awards are one way we recognize and thank the companies that help our customers succeed every day. I congratulate all of our partners, and especially the outstanding award winners."
