| VeraSun, Enterprise team up on ethanol
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Enterprise Rent-A-Car and VeraSun Energy Corp. have announced that a Sioux Falls rental car branch will rent vehicles that run on a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. St. Louis-based Enterprise has launched similar branches in Washington, Cincinnati and other parts of the country. The Taylor family of companies, which includes Enterprise, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car, rents some 73,000 flexible fuel cars and trucks which can run on E85 or standard unleaded gasoline. Brookings-based VeraSun is one of the nation's top ethanol producers. The companies are holding an inaugural fueling of the new fleet on Monday. .
Dallas area new-vehicle sales rise 4.5% in 2007
Contrary to national trends, new car and truck sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth area rose 4.5 percent last year. The data from the Freeman Metroplex Recap includes retail sales as well as sales to car rental agencies and fleets. And the increase "portends well for business this year," said Drew Campbell, president of the New Car Dealers Association of Metropolitan Dallas. "I think it's very exciting," he said Wednesday. "We are in the center of the United States. Because of that, we're not having the ups and downs of the West Coast and East Coast." If new vehicle sales here continue to grow, they'll be bucking some considerable economic headwinds. New car and truck sales in the U.S. dropped 2.5 percent last year and are expected to fall by at least that much this year. Dealers in the four-county Dallas-Fort Worth area sold 383,939 new vehicles last year, compared with 367,381 in 2006, according to the Metroplex Recap.
A beginner's guide to Universal Orlando
Rental cars: $178-$306 including taxes for a week in mid-May, depending on which company you rent from.
Airport shuttles will deliver you to hotels along International Drive for $15/person one-way or $25/person round-trip. Taxis from the airport to International Drive range $33-$39 one-way. The I-Ride Trolley can take you from any of the International Drive hotels to Universal: $1 for single-ride tickets; $9 for a seven-day pass. Kids 12 and younger ride free when accompanied by an adult. Or, you can stay at one of the hotels on Universal property and ride the free boat to the parks.
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Special Samoa Deals for Boxing Fans and Supporters
Overseas interest in the upcoming Samoa International Pro-Am Boxing event in Apia on Saturday 2nd February 2008 will see up to 200 boxing fans and supporters arriving in Samoa next week. Many more are expected to book a ticket to Samoa with the announcement over the week end of special accommodation and rental car deals for boxing fans and supporters. Hotel Kitano Samoa is offering an accommodation special $200 SAT per room per day for up to three people with ELAVA at Vaitele is offering $120 SAT per room per day up to two people with continental breakfast included. Apia Rental is offering a 15% discount to all their vehicles with DAT Car Rentals is offering a special $165 per day for their Hyundai Tucson fleet. This was confirmed by Mr. Teleiai Su’atapulolo’o Edwin Puni, Managing Director of Event Polynesia, “For the next two weeks, Hotel Kitano Samoa and ELAVA Resort will be the home of international boxing with Apia Rental and DAT Car Rentals as the preferred rental car service.” The inaugural Samoa International Pro-Am Boxing is an initiative of Event Polynesia Boxing in association with SPBI and SABA to provide our Samoan boxers both amateur and professional a pathway to boxing world titles by setting up the needed top international competitions right here in Samoa.
Enterprise teams with VeraSun for E85 rental car branch
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Enterprise Rent-A-Car and VeraSun Energy Corp. have announced that a Sioux Falls rental car branch will rent vehicles that run on a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. St. Louis-based Enterprise has launched similar branches in Washington, Cincinnati and other parts of the country. The Taylor family of companies, which includes Enterprise, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car, rents some 73,000 flexible fuel cars and trucks which can run on E85 or standard unleaded gasoline. Brookings-based VeraSun is one of the nation's top ethanol producers. The companies are holding an inaugural fueling of the new fleet on Monday. .
'Waiting lot' opens at Lihue Airport
A free "waiting lot" opened Friday at Lihue Airport on Kauai for motorists to park and wait for passengers on arriving flights. The lot, which is located along Hoolimalima Place next to the car rental facilities, will be open from 5 a.m. to close of business day. Airport officials believe the waiting lot will make it convenient for those picking up arriving passengers and reduce traffic congestion near the baggage claim area. Modeled after similar waiting lots at Honolulu International Airport and Mainland airports, motorists can use the lot to wait until they're called on their cell phones by the passengers they're picking up, no longer having to drive in circles around the airport. Users can wait up to an hour on the lot. Commercial vehicles are not allowed.
Renting 'green'? Not so easy
We're not going to be able to save the world," says Andy Taylor, Enterprise's chief executive, "but we think we can have an effect on the space where we play every day as a business. And we think that's what our customers and especially our employees want us to do." But - and you knew there would be a "but" - Enterprise can only do so much. Its customers, and those of sister brands Alamo and National, aren't guaranteed a hybrid rental car because there aren't enough of them for the company to buy. Most of its flex-fuel cars never run on ethanol because E85 filling stations are scarce. And fewer than one in 10 customers so far are paying the extra $1.25 per rental to offset their carbon emissions. Green is a popular theme in the rental car business these days. Hertz, for instance, markets its "Green Collection" and offers hybrids at 50 U.S.
Yeager runway to close to make room for hangars
Officials at Yeager Airport plan to close a runway to make more room for general aviation hangars and potential new aviation-related businesses. The airport's governing board voted Wednesday to shut down the 4,750-foot crosswind runway, used mainly by smaller private aircraft. The closure would also help the 130th Airlift Wing proceed with development plans that include building two new hangars and adding ramp space to allow four additional C-130s to be based at Air National Guard facility. The idea of closing Runway 15-33 to create additional development space for the mountaintop airport is a key component in Yeager's master plan update, now in its draft stage. "We are now parking as many commercial airplanes as we can at the terminal area, although the new rental car facility, when complete, will give us one more space," Yeager Airport Director Rick Atkinson said.
It’s official: Rockford lands Ireland flights
Twice-weekly flights between Rockford and Shannon, Ireland, will start June 26, according to Kenny Tours. The Maryland-based company signed a deal Thursday with North American Airlines to fly the route through Aug. 31, said Bob Nay, Kenny Tours' director of sales and marketing. The flights will be Thursdays and Sundays. Round-trip airfares start at $888, including taxes and airport fees. Six-night motor coach tours, including airfare and hotels, start at $1,489. Six-night bed-and-breakfast stays, including airfare and car rental, start at $1,489. The seasonal model is similar to Chicago Rockford International Airport's other international route, Apple Vacations' weekly flights to Cancun, Mexico, in the winter. But the Ireland flights will be on Boeing 757s with almost 200 seats, which would be the largest plane used on a regularly scheduled passenger route from Rockford.
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