Archive for January, 2008
January 10th, 2008
I’m developing a story about steps being taken by transportation, distribution, warehousing and general logistics operations to be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. I know these industries use a lot of fuel to get goods to market, and with fuel prices so high, they’re looking for ways to save on costs and also reduce pollution.
UPS has some things its doing through its worldwide system. Anyone know of others who work in the Rockford region that have interesting stories to tell?
January 9th, 2008
Myrtle Beach Direct Air is adding service between Plattsburgh, NY, and Myrtle Beach (as well as St. Petersburg, Fla.). Why do we care? Well, the airline is looking at adding Myrtle Beach service here sometime. CEO Judy Tull said two months ago it depends on whether the carrier can fit the route in its schedule with the airplanes it has. But it’s a good sign that they’re growing at a time when other carriers are cutting service.
January 9th, 2008
Here are the United year-end numbers. Not surprisingly, it showed a slight decrease in passenger: down 1.3 percent to 68 million worldwide. Its planes were on average 83 percent full.
Rockford’s tiny share on the Denver route was 56,000. Planes were a comparable 82 percent full, but again, the airport and the airline calculate that differently.
January 9th, 2008
Allegiant Air has gotten some bad press in recent weeks because of weather delays and cancellations, and a not-always good response to those events, according to passengers. Also, I’ve gotten some calls and comments from travelers who don’t like Allegiant’s model of charging lower fares, then charging extra fees for anything additional, such as checking baggage and choosing a seat ahead of time.
But a lot of people like Allegiant, according to numbers released this week. The airline had more than 3 million passengers on scheduled routes in 2007, a 55 percent increase over 2006. Its planes were on average 83 percent full, a slight increase from 2006’s 81 percent.
According to information provided by Chicago Rockford International Airport, almost 150,000 of those passengers - about 5 percent - flew in and out of Rockford. And while the airport and airline calculate how full airplanes are differently, it’s perhaps noteworthy that planes in and out of Rockford were on average 87 percent full. So our airport is doing its part in helping Allegiant grow.
We’ll see if this growth rate continues this year with such high fuel prices.
January 8th, 2008
Amtrak just released a study of a proposed route from Chicago to the Quad Cities. Last year, Amtrak did a similar process for restoring a route from Chicago through Rockford to Dubuque, Iowa. This was expected - U.S. Sen Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, has pushed for both as ways to improve transportation options in northern Illinois. And both projects depend on the Illinois Legislature passing a capital construction plan, something that’s been years in the making.
The Quad Cities report is available here. The Rockford report is available here.
The big difference between the proposed routes is that the Quads route would use much of an existing Amtrak route to Quincy. The likely Quads route would go on the existing tracks through Naperville, Plano to Mendota, and Princeton, then continue on new tracks to the Quads.
Because of that, the Quads route would cost less than the Rockford route, which would require an upgrade of tracks through the whole route. The Quads route would cost $22.7 million for the 159-mile route, while the Rockford/Dubuque route would cost $32.3 million for the 182-mile route. The Quads route would also be about 33 percent faster, according to the Amtrak report (the Rockford route could increase its speed if more money were poured into it). And because it’s a shorter route, the Quads route would have two round trips a day, and an a projected 111,000 passengers a year vs. 74,500 passengers a year for the one-trip-a-day Rockford/Dubuque route.
That makes the Rockford/Dubuque route seem like more of an uphill battle. But two things are in our favor - our process started first, and we’ve had Amtrak service before.
That said, rail advocates wouldn’t call this a competition, they’d call both routes a victory.
January 7th, 2008
Not the kind of list you want to top. Rockford’s gas prices have risen above Chicago’s again. We’re at $3.25 a gallon for regular unleaded as of Monday morning, while Chicago is at $3.24. A month ago, Rockford was behind both Chicago and the Quad Cities.
We’re faring better on diesel prices: at $3.50 a gallon , we’re fourth in the state, behind Chicago, the Quads and Danville.
The state of Illinois has seen a bigger rise in gas prices than many other states. We’re now seventh in the nation in unleaded gas prices and 16th in diesel.
January 2nd, 2008
Fort Wayne is losing its service to Las Vegas because of high fuel costs. It’s the latest cut by Allegiant Air: in November, the airline announced it was cutting Las Vegas service from Springfield, Champaign and Marion, Ill., and Lansing, Mich.; Gulfport, Miss.; and Huntsville, Ala. Allegiant’s not the only airline making cuts because of fuel prices, but since it’s Rockford’s biggest operator, it’s a scary trend.
When I talked to an Allegiant spokeswoman about this, she said Rockford (and Peoria) didn’t lose service because they were established routes with good passenger levels and profitability. I’d be interested in finding out what kind of load factors (percentage of the plane filled) they were getting on the Fort Wayne route, which started in March.
The Fort Wayne article listed the mileage between its airport and the Allegiant routes, courtesy of WebFlyer.com. With the announced cuts, Rockford-Allegiant will be the fourth-longest left in the system:
Lansing-Las Vegas: 1,680 miles
Fort Wayne-Las Vegas: 1,650 miles
Huntsville-Las Vegas: 1,600 miles
Fort Wayne-Mesa: 1,550 miles
Gulfport-Las Vegas: 1,550 miles
Green Bay-Las Vegas: 1,530 miles
Champaign-Las Vegas: 1,480 miles
Green Bay-Mesa: 1,480
Rockford-Las Vegas: 1,450 miles
Marion-Las Vegas: 1,440 miles
Peoria-Las Vegas: 1,410 miles
Springfield-Las Vegas: 1,410 miles
Duluth-Las Vegas: 1,390 miles
Rockford-Mesa: 1,380 miles
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