Gas prices hit record high mark Memorial Day travelers will face high fuel bills

5/25/2000

By OMAR SOFRADZIJA of the Journal Star

PEORIA - Holiday travelers could be in for major headaches Memorial Day weekend, with Peoria-area gas prices hitting all-time highs, airfares soaring and pilots threatening to strike at central Illinois' most-used airline.

But the hassles likely won't keep too many people home, as a record number of travelers are expected to jam the nation's highways and airports on what is usually one of the year's busiest travel holidays.

"The economy is extremely good right now. People generally just feel good about traveling by automobile," AAA- Chicago Motor Club spokesman Charles Allen said Wednesday.

Travelers driving through Greater Peoria were hit by regular-grade gas prices that jumped as much as 18 cents per gallon Wednesday afternoon, with some prices topping out at a record high of $1.72 per gallon, an informal Journal Star survey found.

Other stations whose prices hadn't changed said sharp price hikes were pending. Prices had been heading up gradually all month, from a regular-grade average of $1.50 per gallon in early May to $1.58 by Wednesday morning, before the latest hikes, the survey found.

Regular-grade prices averaged just $1.13 last Memorial Day, the survey found.

Meanwhile, premium-grade prices that averaged $1.73 per gallon at midday rose to as much as $1.92 by sunset, the survey found, contradicting earlier government claims that the worst of this year's gas price hikes were over. High costs all over

Even before Wednesday's price hike, many Chicago-area prices averaged more than $1.80 per gallon, and premium costs were topping the $2 per gallon mark, Allen said.

The Lundberg Survey of fuel prices found the national average of regular gas at $1.54 per gallon last week, before the latest increase. It blamed recent price jumps on tough federal anti-pollution rules.

Federal officials pinned price hikes on rising demand and slackened crude oil production.

Though federal officials are sticking to predictions of an average per-gallon gas cost of $1.45 by summer's end, oil industry observers note that prices historically rise with growing summertime driving demands.

"We're hoping that it'll taper off," Allen said. "Realistically, during the summer, we've noticed prices tend to go up. Especially around the major holidays, like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July."

Nationally, a record of more than 28 million people are expected to travel by car and another 6 million will travel by plane, train or bus during the three-day holiday weekend, AAA said.

But Allen said most holiday travelers in the Midwest will drive about 100 miles or less, reducing the cash crunch.

"If gas prices keep going up, it'll hurt a little bit," Allen said. Fly now, pay more

Fuel prices are not thought to be behind a jump in airfares of between $10 and $30 per round-trip ticket that took hold among most of the nation's largest airlines last week, travel analyst Terry Trippler of 1travel.com said.

What prompted the hike was unclear. "Want a course in airline economics? A dart board and darts is all the equipment you will need," Trippler said.

American, United, Northwest and TWA - whose commuter affiliates carry nearly all passengers to and from the Greater Peoria Regional Airport - are among the airlines now charging higher fares, Trippler said.

Passengers holding TWA tickets may not get a chance to use them in Peoria this weekend. Pilots at Trans States Airlines, which flies in Peoria as TWA feeder airline TW Express, are threatening to walk out at 11:01 p.m. Friday, leaving Saturday flights in question.

The airline's 700 pilots are threatening to strike after 23 months of talks have failed to produce a new contract. Airline and union officials were meeting with federal mediators in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, the union said.

In the event of a strike, Trans States will try to put TW Express passengers on competing commuter airlines to catch connecting flights at different hub cities.

Passengers also can drive themselves to TWA's St. Louis hub to catch flights to their final destinations. TWA flights would be unaffected by a TW Express strike.

TW Express is the dominant airline in Peoria and Springfield. It's also among the largest carriers in Bloomington and the Quad Cities. Not all bad

There is some good news, but not much. Starting Friday night, the Illinois Department of Transportation will suspend all its road construction projects statewide until Tuesday and will remove lane restrictions on major interstate highways as much as possible, Allen said.

Also, the average cost of vacation lodging and meals is falling, Allen said.

A vacation survey by AAA found the national average daily cost for meals and lodging for two adults and two children is $213. In Illinois, that average of $231, Allen said.

http://www.pjstar.com/frontpage/topnews/pjs3576a.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 25, 2000