June 29th, 2009
Gas prices have now dropped 24 cents a gallon since June 9 in the Rockford region, and many places have it in the $2.60s. So much for the theory that it only goes up. This is a welcome break before July 4, but with $70 a barrel oil, I wonder if it will last.
Working on a story for the weekend about where prices seem to be headed. Any questions out there?
Here are the prices from this morning (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped almost two cents to $2.69 a gallon today. We’re third in the state and 81st of the nation’s 280 metro areas. The Illinois average dropped slightly but stayed at $2.76 a gallon. The national average dropped slightly but stayed at $2.64 a gallon. Illinois has the eighth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia.
Diesel: Diesel prices had slipped ahead of gas prices over the weekend, but dropped back. Rockford dropped more than a cent to $2.68 a gallon. We have the third-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average stayed at $2.69. The national average remained at $2.63. Illinois has the 14th-highest diesel prices in the country, including the District of Columbia.
June 29th, 2009
According to a reader who had tickets to Myrtle Beach next month, flights on the Rockford route have been canceled from July 11 on. He got an email from Direct Air and talked to a representative who told him that Myrtle Beach flights will resume in November. That last part doesn’t make sense - Direct Air’s previous plan was to suspend Myrtle Beach flights this fall and restart in the spring. I can understand them stopping flights early, but I doubt we’ll see the route return until spring.
The airline’s Web site doesn’t indicate any flights to Myrtle Beach after July 11 at all.
Meanwhile, this apparently puts flights to Punta Gorda, Fla. - which piggybacked with Myrtle Beach -Â on hiatus. Direct Air isn’t selling seats there from mid-July to mid-September. The good news is that when flights return, they’ll apparently be nonstop (and yet, the online schedule has the flight times longer?).
More at BusinessRockford.com as I get it.
I’ll leave you with a question, since Direct Air has made a habit out of schedule changes like this. Do these kinds of changes - and the risk of having a flight canceled on you weeks from take off make you less likely to fly out of RFD? Allegiant Air tends to be much better on this front - they usually just don’t sell tickets at times they don’t want to fly - so it’s not like every airline does it here. But when it does happen, does it affect your view of the airport’s options?
(I say this as someone who has had two flights canceled on him, but would be willing to try again if the destination was right.)
