Piedmont Airlines expanding in Salisbury

Piedmont Airlines is expanding its workforce in Salisbury as the air carrier enlarges its fleet.

Piedmont is adding 20 jets to its existing stock of 37 turboprop airplanes. The jets come from American Airlines, which merged in 2013 with Piedmont’s then-parent company, US Airways.

At its headquarters at the Salisbury-Ocean City: Wicomico Regional Airport, Piedmont has already added a dozen new employees, said Piedmont spokeswoman Jackie Jennings.

The company expects to receive its first Embraer 145 regional jet in October.

Customers probably won’t be able to fly on those jets out of Salisbury, though, Jennings said.

The jets will fly on select routes out of Philadelphia beginning in early 2016; the Philadelphia-to-Salisbury route is likely too short to enlist a jet, she added.

The new employees in Salisbury need space, so Piedmont is expanding its offices into the David J. Ward terminal building. The company renovated the space to house administrative staff and ground-support equipment staff.

“Piedmont employs more than 400 people in Wicomico County, and that number is increasing,” CEO Steve Farrow said in a statement. “The expansion into the old terminal building gives us the space we need immediately, and the opportunity to continue to grow as we increase our fleet over the next several years.”