cheap avgas

Well, cheap for around here, anyway.

If you're flying along the central Gulf Coast, it's $2.39/gal self serve
at St. Elmo (2R5) near Mobile.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

$2.20 a gallon yesterday at 52F

On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 15:56:22 -0600, "Dan Luke"
wrote:

Well, cheap for around here, anyway.

If you're flying along the central Gulf Coast, it's $2.39/gal self serve
at St. Elmo (2R5) near Mobile.

$2.57/gal at Jean NV, self serve... but you have to pay county fees, that
jacks the price..
down from a high of $2.75

BT

"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...
Well, cheap for around here, anyway.

If you're flying along the central Gulf Coast, it's $2.39/gal self serve
at St. Elmo (2R5) near Mobile.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

UBX at Cuba Missouri - $2.22
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

What makes gas so much cheaper in some places? Is it old gas or
something?

Bravo8500 wrote:

What makes gas so much cheaper in some places? Is it old gas or
something?

There are many factors. Aviation gas has to be trucked all the way from the
point at which tetraethyl lead is added to the gas. The further the airport is
from there, the higher the cost will be. Major airports charge a premium simply
because space there costs more. Airports which are owned by municipalities
sometimes add taxes and fees. Some States add taxes. These are the major reasons
for regional price differences.

Within a region, there are also various business practices involved. Some FBOs
track wholesale fuel prices and raise or lower their prices accordingly, much
the way auto gas stations do. The majority, however, set their prices based on
the cost of the last load of gas they bought. If they bought that gas cheaply,
the price at that FBO will be relatively low until they sell it all. If it cost
them a lot, they'll have high prices until they sell it all. As far as pilots
are concerned, if the price of auto gas went up recently, the cheaper fuel is
likely to be older. The reverse is true if gas prices went down a few weeks ago.
This is especially true of FBOs with relatively large storage tanks.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

I find that much of the cheaper gas is sold by city or county operated
pumps at municipal airports that are more interested in attracting
visitors and business to their city than making big profits.
--
Gene Seibel
Gene & Sue's Aeroplanes - http://pad39a.com/gene/planes.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

Last Wednesday our aerial applicator bought a load of 100LL

$1.63 wholesale, semi load transport, delivered to central Wisconsin from
Minneapolis...

this is EXACTLY the same price I paid for a semi load of Regular Unleaded
mogas on the same day last week, it includes all state and federal taxes on
both fuels. Only difference is that the mogas comes to central Wisconsin
via pipeline and the trucking to us is only about 50 miles.

Jim


"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


Bravo8500 wrote:

What makes gas so much cheaper in some places? Is it old gas or
something?

There are many factors. Aviation gas has to be trucked all the way from
the
point at which tetraethyl lead is added to the gas. The further the
airport is
from there, the higher the cost will be. Major airports charge a premium
simply
because space there costs more. Airports which are owned by municipalities
sometimes add taxes and fees. Some States add taxes. These are the major
reasons
for regional price differences.

Within a region, there are also various business practices involved. Some
FBOs
track wholesale fuel prices and raise or lower their prices accordingly,
much
the way auto gas stations do. The majority, however, set their prices
based on
the cost of the last load of gas they bought. If they bought that gas
cheaply,
the price at that FBO will be relatively low until they sell it all. If it
cost
them a lot, they'll have high prices until they sell it all. As far as
pilots
are concerned, if the price of auto gas went up recently, the cheaper fuel
is
likely to be older. The reverse is true if gas prices went down a few
weeks ago.
This is especially true of FBOs with relatively large storage tanks.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble
enterprise.


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Taxes
"Bravo8500" wrote in message
oups.com...
What makes gas so much cheaper in some places? Is it old gas or
something?

Bravo8500 wrote:
What makes gas so much cheaper in some places? Is it old gas or
something?

There are many factors. I have lived in several places where
the mogas prices were suspiciously high. There have been
"investigations", which always fail to uncover any collusion.
When questioned, the distributors tell a story about "zone
pricing" - which is a bunch of hooey IMHO. I have observed that
when a well known discount chain opens a station, prices
come down all over town. The only thing that keeps prices
down is competetion - or an unfair? advantage. I regularly
pass through in indian reservation in the course of my work.
The station there has prices 15-20 cents lower than elsewhere.
The difference is taxes - no State tax! Not surprisingly, the
station is always busy.

As for avgas, I believe that many FBOs charge whatever the
traffic will bear. They get away with it because often they
have a monopoly. I did find a municipal airport (who also
ran the fuel concession) that had prices a good 50 cents
a gallon lower than another airport nearby. Since there is
so little competition, about the only thing pilots can do
is to try to find out where the lowest prices can be had,
and flight plan accordingly. I wonder if there are any air-
ports (with avgas) on indian reservations?

In spite of the large differences in prices out there, I do
feel that it makes little sense to deviate or make an other-
wise unnecessary stop just to take advantage of better gas
prices. However, if you can obtain the info ahead of time,
and taking advantage of it fits in with your plans, go for it!
David Johnson