Archive for July 24th, 2008
July 24th, 2008
This is one of my favorite airplane photos ever. It’s from Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Marteen, the second busiest airport in the eastern Caribbean.
It’s also one of the World’s Scariest Runways, according to TravelandLeisure.com. There are some great other examples there, including the Losetho airstrip that sends planes literally flying off a cliff, and Reagan National in Washington, D.C., where planes have to dodge tricky airspace restrictions.
But St. Marteen is my favorite, because planes fly right over hapless tourists. Here are some great videos:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/NemEIFQgMVo" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/WTLGsEErWJY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Any of you flown in or out on scary runways?
July 24th, 2008
Malév Hungarian Airlines cutting its long-haul flights to the U.S., focusing on European service.
Granted, the idea of Malév flying to RFD hasn’t been seriously floated in like five years. It’s become a joke to RFD detractors, “Hey, how are those flights to Budapest coming?” but, hey, you gotta pursue all leads in this business. I’m sure there are a lot of “crazy” ideas floated by airports and airlines that are never made public.
Well, we can still hope for Ireland next year…
July 24th, 2008
Highlights from a favorable report that Allegiant passed our way from the financial giant:
- Allegiant’s first quarter profit of $0.13 earnings per share was a cent higher than Raymond James’ estimate. It saw a decline in earnings (from $0.51 a year ago), but remained profitable, unlike many of its competitors. Of course, the drop was due to a 58 percent increase in fuel costs.
- Allegiant dropped its average route length 7 percent over this time last year. “As Allegiant reduces long-haul flying in response to higher fuel prices, (average seat mile) growth will trail departure growth. … We view this near-term moderation in growth as active management of the business to maintain profitability (rare in the airline business) at higher fuel prices. … This should not be viewed as a lack of growth opportunities for Allegiant, in our view.”
- “We believe an increasing number of small-town America markets will be orphaned by legacy carriers as networks are restructured for higher fuel prices. Further, Allegiant’s reduced capacity growth, combined with reductions in competing capacity to leisure markets … should enhance Allegiant’s ability to raise fares. We believe Allegiant would be one of the first domestic carriers to accelerate growth should fuel continue to decline.”
Again, the drop in stage length isn’t a good sign for cities like Rockford that are more than 1,000 miles from Allegiant’s destinations. Maybe the part about Allegiant being one of the first to accelerate growth should fuel continue to decline would be good news for us. Or maybe they’ll accelerate growth elsewhere. Not sure. But good news for our largest carrier.
July 24th, 2008
I say “reasonably” because RFD has sold out three other trips in a day each. So the airport has set the bar high.
But 51 seats in less than a day 63 seats in about a day is still pretty good, especially for the most expensive trip and longest trip yet. Bowling Green, Ky., the only day trip to fail, sold only 30 seats in several days.
Besides the presidential mountain, the day trip takes people near Badlands National Park, the Crazy Horse Memorial and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I’m told you could fly up there in the morning, rent a motorcycle, go to the rally and then go back home.
Anyone out there taking this trip or thinking about it? I’d be interested in hearing what you’re most interested in up there.
Ticket information and other stuff available here.
July 24th, 2008
Regular reader Bob Trojan has joked that he’ll walk so that he doesn’t have to fill his tank until gas prices bottom out. Well, according to government data, U.S. demand has dropped 2.4 percent from a year ago. The phrase “demand destruction” is being thrown about by analysts.
There are other factors to: the strengthening dollar and the relative undestructiveness of Hurricane Dolly. But despite a slight overnight bump in oil prices, some people are saying oil could drop to $110 or, dare I say, even below $100.
We’ll see. For now, gas prices keep dropping as well (Numbers courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped more than two cents to $3.93 a gallon, a 27-cent drop from last week’s record. We’re still tenth in the state in gas prices. Only Springfield ($3.90) is below us. A friend from Chicagoland noted marked lower gas prices out here. Heck, we’re even lower than the lower-taxed Wisconsin. The Illinois average dropped more than two cents to $4.12, almost 14 cents below last week’s record. The national average dropped more than a cent to $4.03, 9 cents below Thursday’s record. Illinois has the 13th-highest gas prices in the nation (including the District of Columbia).
Diesel: Rockford dropped more than two cents to $4.73, 13 cents below the record set in May. We went up to sixth-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average dropped more than a cent to $4.80, almost six cents down from last week’s record. The national average dropped more than a cent to $4.79, down almost six cents from last week’s record. Illinois is tied with the 20th-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).
