Monthly Archives: July 2006

TGIF: Crude Closes at $74.09

The price of a barrel of crude closed at $74.09 today. Yee haw.

However, while rising crude oil prices are bad enough, this has also been a bad week for jet fuel prices too, as I mentioned in this week’s PBB. NY Jet closed at $2.16/gallon on Thursday, and I doubt it dropped back much today, although I have yet to check.

And no, jet fuel and crude don’t always move in the same direction. Why? Because of the cost to refine jet fuel. A number of factors enter into this. The metric that is used to tell us just how expensive it is to refine a barrel of crude is called the crack spread.

As a result, sometimes the price of jet fuel dips below rising oil prices, sometimes it tracks the price of crude fairly closely. Other times — it tracks above the price of crude.

PBB Posting Time

For PBB subscribers, an update on our publishing time this week. Due to the delayed issuance Thursday of the May DOT report, and other odds and ends, look for this week’s issue to be posted Friday.

Crude Closes at All-Time High — $75.19/barrel

Just goes to show what a few North Korean missiles will do.

Actually, today’s record-breaking move was motivated more by gasoline supply concerns. But those geo-political factors didn’t help much.

Look for gas prices to be closer to, or above, $3 a gallon by this weekend — depending on the weekly energy inventory numbers the Department of Energy reports Thursday.

Users to PlaneBuzz, We Have Transmission Problems

If you are in here at all, you are aware that we opened up PlaneBuzz to PlaneBusiness Banter subscribers last week, as we continue to beta test the site.

Please be patient as we continue to work out the kinks. It is one of those chicken and egg things. We want things to work right, but we really can’t know if they are working right until we get folks in here, testing the various links, systems, etc.

Friday night and Saturday we were down for a few hours with a software upgrade and other things. Some of you could not access the site. That problem is over and done with.

Monday I received notes saying that the Buzznote email address was not working properly and that the Typepad registration process is sending back weird messages to those trying to sign up to comment.

First, the email issue. That was operator error on my part. The address is now working with no problem. Buzznotes@planebuzz.com

However, please note. This is a different address than I had originally posted! Please make note of the change.

Yeah, I know. Time for 100 lashes with a wet noodle for yours truly.

As for the Typepad registration issues — we still have those as of this morning. We’re working to resolve the problem. Big problem, as we definitely want all of you to be able to comment.

Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to let us know of problems you’ve encountered.

At least we don’t have pieces of cracked foam core to worry about. Then again…that problem might actually be easier to fix.

Happy Fourth of July

What would the Fourth of July be without a story about grilling? We already did our yearly “Ode to the Hot Dog” for PlaneBusiness Banter readers this week. Hey — it’s a tradition. What can I say?

114158Main Sd Shuttledog

Even though that “Shuttle Dog” creative project in eating from NASA was truly revolting to contemplate.

So today it’s time to alert you to a story in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. (sub requred) Not only is it about grilling, but it features an airline CEO — Jeff Potter of Frontier Airlines.

Hmmmm.

This piece screams “PR Placement” to me. I noted last month that Frontier Airlines announced that it had hired a Denver-based PR firm, Linhart McClain Finlon to help “boost” awareness of the airline on a national level. I would bet money this is a result of the firm beating the media pavement.

Whether or note a low-cost airline should not just hire a cracker-jack internal PR person to do this type of thing is an argument I won’t get into today. After all, it is a holiday.

What I will comment on is Jeff’s recipe for Chimichurri Marinade. I’m a big fan of grilled steak with Chimichurri, and this recipe sounds like it would work pretty well.

Hc-Gi273 Potter 20060629182523-1

Jeff Potter’s Chimichurri Marinade



Yield: 2 cups; enough for steaks for four

Active preparation time: 15 minutes

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon, preferably Maggi brand

8 peeled garlic cloves

3 cups tightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 cup fresh cilantro

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup fresh lime juice (from 2 or 3 limes)

¼ cup red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Dissolve chicken bouillon in ½ cup boiling water and set aside to let cool.

• With the motor running, drop 1 garlic clove at a time into a food processor. Scrape sides of bowl. Add cooled bouillon, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, salt and pepper. Blend.

• Pour 1/3 to ½ of marinade in bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on surface, refrigerate until ready to serve as sauce. Use remaining chimichurri as a marinade for flank steak.

And oh, the best quote from Jeff “Mastergriller” Potter? That he first saw the 40,000 BTU grill he uses on the deck of his house in an in-flight magazine — of another airline.