Pellicano Articles
In recent weeks, companies have been seeing an uptick in the use of airports and airport transportation services such as limousines. This recent change follows several years, in which the US air industry has had one of its worst recessions in decades. But now they are seeing demand increase. Along with the recent change consumers have noticed more incidents of being bumped off planes, as airlines choose to fill flights to capacity.
The severe recession which has affected the air industry for the past two years, has been accompanied by a parallel recession in the limousine business. Limo companies blame most of the slowing on a slag in corporate travel along with cuts in corporate spending on travel. 9% of corporations, for example have put a freeze on limo spending. Even when corporations send employees on business trips, they are much more likely to encourage employees to use buses shuttle or to foot it whenever possible, if they are travelling a short distance in a downtown area.
As a result of the recession many limo companies have gone out of business. The total number of limousine companies has dropped from over 9,000 to just slightly over 5,000. The recession which individual drivers started seeing in 2008 has caused a 60% reduction in revenue for the luxury conveyance inidustry.
Limo drivers who did not lose their jobs have had to work hard and employ creative strategies to stay afloat during the recession. Some private limo drivers, have reported going to work for a larger fleet in order to pay the bills for their personal vehicle. Another limo company began offering a “price you see is the price you see special,” to the airports. This means that as a way to attract customers, this company will agree not to add on any additional cost for time, fuel, etc.
Limousine drivers make a large portion of their money from trips to and from the airport. So the recent increase in air travel will mean more more for job starved limo companies. The uncertainty in plane scheduling with more passengers getting bumped and rescheduled, will likewise help limo drivers, who unlike cab drivers and other types of airport shuttles, specifically wait to meet their fare. Limo drivers actually keep track of flights and maintain cell phone contact with their pre-booked customers, so that they drop them off and meet them at the precise time the customers are leaving or arriving at the airport.
A number of drivers, such as Sam Tlecani of Pyramids Limo, a Denver Airport Limo, Denver Airport Taxi and Denver Airport Transportation company have been getting through the recession by relying on Internet advertising. Sam, for example, is like many limo drivers who spend their off hours promoting their company via websites and on line optimization. This all goes to prove that old adage that when the times get tough, the tough get going.
Tags: airlines, economy, limousines, recession, Travel
Posted in Travel · July 22nd, 2010 · Comments (0)
Stocks Plummet as Market Wakes Up to “Real Crisis,” Says Peter Schiff Posted Apr 27, 2010 04:39pm EDT Fear of a sovereign debt crisis in Europe resurfaced Tuesday, sending stocks tumbling around the globe. In the US the Dow shed 213 points and the S&P lost 28 points. Meanwhile, gold rose to its highest level in 2 weeks, hitting 65 per ounce at its intraday peak. In other words, today was a great day for Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital. “A lot of people were confused they thought the market going up was somehow ratifying what the government had done that the stimulus and bailouts were good and the economy was improving it’s not,” Schiff says. “The economy is in worse shape than in 2008.” Rather than resolved the crisis, all we’ve done is papered over problems in the banking system with “phony accounting” and “dug ourselves deeper into debt,” says Schiff, a longtime deficit hawk. The crisis of 2008 was merely the “overture” to the “real crisis” Schiff (still) sees coming: “The real crisis is going to be a currency crisis, a funding crisis, a sovereign debt crisis and that’s when we have to pay the piper,” he says. “We’re in very bad shape. Sovereign credit risk in the US is just as great — if not greater than [in] Greece.” Even the most casual watchers of financial media know that Schiff has been saying much of the same thing for a long time now. Clearly, the US stock market and the dollar have fared better in the past year than Schiff expected (at least …
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Posted in Stocks · May 7th, 2010 · Comments (21)