Archive for April 3rd, 2008
April 3rd, 2008
More mixed messages (Data courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped two cents to $3.35 a gallon Wednesday. The state as a whole stayed right at $3.41. We have the sixth-highest gas prices in the state, slipping behind Peoria. The national average increased a fraction of a cent back into a record at $3.29 a gallon. Illinois has the sixth-highest gas prices in the country.
Diesel: Rockford increased just over a cent back to $4.09 a gallon. We were one of only two metro areas to increase today and now have the third-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average remained at $4.14 a gallon and the nation dropped slightly to $4.02. Illinois has the 12th-highest prices in the country.
April 3rd, 2008
Allegiant Air just released its March and first quarter numbers, showing it continues to fly against the national trend with its growth.
The highlights:
- Another three months of more than 50 percent growth in passenger numbers year-over-year. Interestingly, it’s not just from having new flights - the passenger growth rate exceeded the increase in departures. Basically, there are plenty of new routes, and older routes gained popularity.
- To further prove that last point, the load factor (how full the planes were) for the quarter was 86.9 percent, up from 82.5 percent last year. For March, it was 90.8 percent.
- The average stage length (how long routes are) continued to drop as the airline focuses on shorter routes to maximize profits while fuel prices increase. Allegiant’s model is such that they make more of their money on hotel bookings, vacation packages and products and services sold on flights than they do from your actual airfare. If they can cut the length of their flights, they can actually increase profits by cutting costs without hurting revenue as much. That’s why you see the average stage length down to almost 900 miles.
What does this mean for Rockford?
- We’re holding up our end of the bargain, growth-wise. In the first quarter, Rockford’s Allegiant routes increased passenger totals by 36.2 percent, according to numbers provided by the airport. While most of that was from having two routes we didn’t have last spring (Phoenix/Mesa, Ariz., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), our previously existing routes grew by 7.4 percent themselves. Meanwhile, in March Rockford’s Allegiant routes grew by 44.5 percent; the previously existing routes grew by 15.1 percent.
- Our planes are more crowded than Allegiant’s in general, according to airport calculations. In the first quarter, Rockford’s Allegiant flights were on average 89 percent full; in March alone, they were a whopping 95 percent full.
- So why are we getting less, not more flights? Stage length - every single one of our routes are longer than Allegiant’s system average, from RFD- Las Vegas (1,450 miles) to RFD-Orladno/Sanford, Fla. (1,030 miles). That’s the biggest barrier to Allegiant’s growth here - its focus cities are so darn far away from Rockford. We need some “world-class leisure destinations” that are closer than 900 miles away!
Anyway, this is further proof that Allegiant’s model seems to be working. I’ll be looking forward to its 1Q financial numbers. According to USA TODAY, if oil prices average $100 for the year, only two airlines would show a profit: Allegiant and Southwest.
April 3rd, 2008
How sudden was this? Even the staff at Midway didn’t know about it until it happened.
And the key nugget from the press release I posted earlier:
With the shutdown of all operations and cancellation of all ATA flights, ATA is no longer able to honor any reservations or tickets. ATA customers should seek alternative arrangements for current and future travel. To that end, ATA has contacted the airlines that serve ATA destinations and asked them to provide assistance to ATA customers. A list of other airlines that serve ATA destinations and additional information for ATA customers is available at www.ata.com. Customer information has also been posted at all ATA ticket counters and is available at (800) 435-9282. Customers should visit ata.com for updates as additional information becomes available.Customers who purchased tickets from ATA using a credit card should contact their credit card provider directly for more information about how to obtain a refund for unused tickets. Customers who purchased tickets from Southwest Airlines for flights operated by ATA through its codeshare agreement should contact Southwest at (800) 308-5037 for more information.
I checked out the Web site, and it indeed has helpful info. It’s also sad, because at the top of the page is a graphic celebrating “35 years: 1973-2008″. That was intended as an anniversary note, now it’s an epitaph.
April 3rd, 2008
First it was Aloha Airlines and Champion Air.
Now, ATA is shutting down.
Puts things into perspective - RFD lost a couple of routes, but these whole airlines are going under elsewhere.
It’s a shame on ATA - I used to fly them from Midway to LaGuardia in NYC. Not the best planes or service, but cheap prices and a convenient connection. They always seemed like one of those Midway-based airlines that could make something work at RFD too. Guess not.
