Redbird To End $1 Avgas Two Weeks Early

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Redbird Skyport’s offer to fill your airplane’s tank for $1 a gallon during October has drawn so much activity that the organizers have decided to end the promotion two weeks early, spokesman Jeff Van West said on Tuesday. “In preparing for this experiment, we planned for traffic averaging eight times normal,” said Van West. “Actual response has been four times higher than that — over 30 times our normal volume. By the end of the first week, we’d reached our data collection goal for the entire month.” The incessant demand has become “unmanageable” for the Skyport staff, he said.

“We have three trucks running full-time and wait times might still approach two hours, and we can’t get fuel delivered fast enough to guarantee we don’t run out,” he said. “Not to mention conditions for our staff; they’re icing their joints through the day due to the unrelenting workload.” The FBO, in San Marcos, Texas, usually pumps about 4,000 gallons of 100LL in a month. Van West projected that by October 15 they will have pumped over 90,000 gallons. Van West said that to continue at that rate for the entire month is “physically and economically unviable,” but the Skyport is committed to handling the demand through AOPA Summit in nearby Fort Worth, and up to the 15th. “We regret having to make any changes to the plan,” Van West added, “but our goal was both data collection and stirring an infusion of activity in the GA community. On both those counts, we’ve already succeeded several times over even our boldest projections. So we view the experiment as a success.”

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