Wallet must be greener at foreign gas pumps - Gas-saving tips Continental rumblings Hub airport news
A spike in gas prices got the attention of Erie drivers over the past week, but the word from analysts at a management consulting firm is that things could be worse.
What could be worse? How about paying $5.34 a gallon to drive around the streets of Hong Kong.
But then again, things could be better. You could be paying 28 cents a gallon if you drove around the streets of Caracas, Venezuela.
The consulting company, Runzheimer International, put together a list of the most expensive and least expensive places in the world to fill up your gas tank.
Hong Kong, at $5.34 a gallon, topped the list. Caracas was at the bottom, but there was no indication of whether its 28-cent-a-gallon price was reported before or after the strike by Venezuelan oil workers shut off petroleum spigots in that country.
Other cities on the high end of the gas-cost scale and what drivers pay per gallon include: London, $4.55; Paris, $4.41; Amsterdam, $4.38; Seoul, $4.35; Copenhagen, $4.24; Tokyo, $4.20; Milan, Italy, $4.14; Oslo, Norway, $4.13; and Frankfurt, Germany, $4. But if you are looking for a deal on gas, it pays to live where they pump the crude.
After Caracas on the low end of the scale came: Jakarta, Indonesia, 74 cents; Cairo, 75 cents; Kuwait City, 77 cents; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 93 cents; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, $1.05; Kiev, Ukraine, $1.13; Muscat, Oman, $1.13; and Moscow, $1.21. "When you view the U.S., and even Canada, from a global perspective, North American fuel prices are still relatively inexpensive," said John Wada, a consultant and cost-of-living expert with Runzheimer.
But Wada also said that American drivers may well end up paying as much for gas as drivers in those $4-a-gallon cities because Americans drive many more miles than people in other parts of the world.
What got the attention of drivers in Erie, Crawford and other counties in northwestern Pennsylvania last Thursday and Friday was a jump that sent prices at individual stations up anywhere from 6 cents to a dime over the week.
What happened? Apparently lots of things.
AAA Regional President David Poor said the ongoing problems with the Venezuelan oil workers strike and impending threat of war with Iraq continued to put pressure on prices, and extremely cold weather in the East iced up some rivers and ports and slowed the delivery of oil by tankers.
Also, analysts with the federal Energy Information Administration and private oil tracking professionals had been warning that wholesalers, distributors and retailers were absorbing price increases and at some point those increases were going to be pushed onto consumers. In late December they were predicting gas prices would go up another 10 cents or so in the coming weeks.
Anyway, the increases brought the average price being charged by stations in Erie up to $1.573 a gallon as of Saturday morning, according to the survey the OPIS energy group does for the national AAA. A week ago that average was $1.522.
If it is any consolation, prices in metro areas of Ohio jumped even faster. The AAA survey showed the average price in Cleveland jumped from $1.439 to $1.547 over the past week, and the average price in Youngstown jumped from $1.406 to $1.487. Elsewhere in the region, average prices jumped from $1.467 to $1.496 in Pittsburgh and $1.599 to $1.612 in Buffalo/Niagara Falls.
This might be a good time to review some gas-saving tips from the AAA: *If you have more than one car, put the miles on the more fuel efficient one when possible. *Consolidate trips and errands to cut down on driving time and keep miles off the odometer. *Slow down. The faster a vehicle travels, the more gas it burns. *Avoid quick starts and sudden stops. They not only waste fuel, but are hard on the vehicle and increase the odds of a crash. *Maintain your vehicle. Keep tires properly inflated, keep moving components lubricated and keep the ignition and emission systems in good shape to maintain proper fuel economy. *Lighten the load. Don't haul extra weight in the passenger compartment or trunk. A heavier vehicle uses more gas. *Check your owner's manual. If it says your vehicle doesn't require premium or mid-grade gas, buy the less-expensive regular unleaded. *Shop for gasoline prices locally, but don't waste gas driving to distant filling stations to save a few cents. *Don't race a cold engine to warm it up. *Avoid extended idling to warm up the engine. *Maintain steady speeds for the best fuel economy. A car uses extra fuel when it accelerates. *Use the air conditioner only when needed.
Continental Express, which provided Erie-to-Cleveland service until mid 2001, is starting to recall some furloughed pilots.
A total of 48 pilots are expected to return to work in April, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. The newspaper quotes airline and union officials as saying that virtually every Continental and Continental Express pilot who was furloughed could be back in the cockpit by 2004.
Officials at Erie International Airport have said in recent weeks that they have heard rumors in the industry that Continental Express might be willing to take a second look at service to Erie.
Northwest Airlines is to begin daily seasonal spring and summer service between Detroit and Myrtle Beach on April 18.
Media reports from Pittsburgh say that airport officials hope to allow US Airways passengers to again use curbside luggage check-in as early as next month.
Delta Air Lines is upgrading its Saturday service between Cincinnati and Cancun, Mexico. The airline plans to use a 183-passenger Boeing 757 to make the flight instead of a 148 passenger Boeing 737. The airline also added a seventh daily flight to its Cincinnati-to-Pittsburgh service.
JIM CARROLL,who writes about transportation each Monday, can be reached at (814) 724-1716, 870-1727 or by e-mail at jim.carroll@timesnews.com.
Last changed: February 02. 2003 5:29PM