Cheap gas, terror attacks on the minds of Thanksgiving travelers

At Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill, passenger boardings are projected to increase 10.2 percent in 2015 compared with a year ago, rising from 14,016 to 15,442, an increase of 1,426, said Kelly Johnson, the airport director at Northwest Arkansas Regional. “Improvements in the economy and low gas prices should generate an increase in holiday travelers for the seventh consecutive year”.

“Hopefully there are no issues. We’ve been making sure that we are listening to our partners as to what is happening and what somebody might be concerned about, and we’ve shared information making sure that there’s not a gap”, he said. “But with what’s been going on recently, I don’t care how long they take, I just want to be safe”.

Though no changes were made to the terror alert in the U.S., the recent Paris and West Africa attacks prompted the U.S. State Department to warn travelers from the U.S. about the risks of traveling overseas.

Still others are happy to stay home for the holidays. In Lexington, it could be found for as low as $1.72 Wednesday night.

Jacksonville saw prices below two dollars for a five-month period extending in to the spring of 2010 before prices went back up to the late-2000s-recession-level norms.

“Oh, yeah”, she said while clutching the leash of her travel partner, a Doberman named Murphy Brown.

“It’ll probably be right after Thanksgiving (when prices rise), if I had to guess”, Hoppen said. “That was out of the question”. He refueled his SUV at a Pilot station in suburban Little Rock, where regular gasoline was $1.88 a gallon. So crossing a state line before filling up could cost you 50 to 70 cents a gallon, DeHaan said.

According to TripAdvisor, 28% of travelers choose the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to leave on their trip.

One traveler, Steve Carder, said he’s noticed more people on the roadways this year, doubling his time to and from work.

With Thanksgiving taking place on Thursday, today is one of the busiest travel days of the year as people are getting a jump on the holiday traffic.

Gas industry expert Jeff Deatherage of Professional Energy Group said the reasoning behind the cheap gas is based on simple supply and demand. “So that’s a plus”.