Today’s fuel price musings - the slow descent continues

Add comment August 7th, 2008

Though oil prices rose back over $120 a barrel today because of a Turkish pipeline fire, analysts suggest prices will continue their general downward trend because of falling demand. Meanwhile, fuel prices keep slipping slightly.

Check out our new Gas Tracker feature to see where the best prices in your town are, and add prices you see. The more trackers we have, the better information we’ll have. And please, keep it to Rock River Valley gas stations … I don’t want to cover Tulsa!
Here’s the situation in the metro area, state and nation (prices courtesy of AAAs fuelgaugereport.com):

Gasoline: Rockford dropped two cents to $3.87 a gallon. We’re down to fifth in the state in gas prices. The Illinois average dropped a cent to $3.96. The national average dropped  more than a cent to $3.85. Illinois rose to 12th-highest gas prices in the nation (including the District of Columbia). AAA shows an interesting chart on national trends:

You’ll notice that, yes, gas prices are falling slower than oil and wholesale gas prices.But that’s because the gap between those has been smaller than average since the oil run-up started, and retailers are recovering some margins. If the chart went back farther, you’d see that oil rose faster than gasoline last year

Diesel: Rockford  dropped a fraction of a cent to remain at $4.52 a gallon, down 31 cents in the past month. We have the ninth-highest (third-lowest) diesel prices in the state. The state average dropped almost two cents to $4.64, down 19 cents in the past month. The national average dropped two cents to $4.61, down 19 cents in the past month. Illinois has the 20th-highest prices in the country (including the District of Columbia).

Shame that airport day trips are ending with Denver

8 comments August 7th, 2008

By now you’ve heard that RFD’s flights to Denver - and its fledgling day trip program - are ending. Denver was a big money loser - to the tune of $600,000-$700,000 because fuel is so high and the planes weren’t full. Had a conversation with a friend who commented that they “wanted too quick results” but you can’t justify losing that much money at a time like this. He also wondered if lack of frequency killed it, but A. United couldn’t make money with daily service in this environment and B. I’m not sure RFD could have gotten a deal that would have given them an affordable plane for daily flights.

There may be a lot of “woulda, coulda shouldas” on the post-mordem, but it comes down to another route failing in a country of failing air routes. High fuel prices = high fares. High fares + economic questions = decline in leisure traffic. So it goes. But give the folks at RFD credit for being willing to try, and the knowledge to know when to give up.

The day trips were breaking even, and by any reasonable measure were an overwhelming success. But they’re ending because the deal with Southern Skyways required a certain number of flight hours, and the airport couldn’t pack enough day trips to meet that minimum.

Will day trips come back? The airport sure hit on something with sold out flights to Niagara Falls, Indianapolis and Mackinac Island. But finding a deal with an airline to have planes available for non-regular service would be tough. Perhaps a deal with Rockford-based Ryan International Airlines sometime? Or we just may have to wait until things pick up…