This is the logo for Flying J Travel Plazas. Truck drivers often call the truck stops "Flying Hook" or "Flying Fish Hook" because that's what the logo looks like. I like Flying Hooks, but we don't have very many of them on our fuel list.
I was hooking up to Pilot's wifi the other day and was a little surprised to see the press release "Pilot Enters into Interim Financing Arrangement with Flying J". Flying J declared bankruptcy in December 2008. The following is from their website:
"Even though Flying J has been a successful company, it faced near-term liquidity pressure from an unprecedented combination of factors: the precipitous drop in the price of oil and the lack of available financing from its traditional sources due to disrupted credit markets. With a sudden and unanticipated inability to meet its liquidity needs, the company had no other choice than a Chapter 11 filing to provide the time to work through a solution."
I remember when it happened. Little Buddy and I were laid over at the Flying J in Brookville PA for Christmas last year, and an employee came out and blocked off all the fuel islands. I asked one of the Hook's tanker drivers why, and he said, "Probably because they're out of fuel". He figured what caused the bankruptcy was that Flying Hook stockpiled/bought a whole bunch of oil and then the bottom fell out of oil prices; i.e, they couldn't refine and sell the fuel and get back even what they paid for it.
According to the Pilot press release:
"After a careful and exhaustive review of the alternatives available, we have concluded that a merger with Pilot represents the best possible outcome for Flying J, our creditors, our customers, and our employees," said Crystal Call Maggelet, Chairman of the Board of Flying J. "Over the next few months, we will negotiate definitive agreements to merge our companies. This transaction will allow us to emerge from the bankruptcy process relatively quickly thereafter and to start a new chapter in the Flying J story."
So are we gonna have Flying Hook Pilots now? I doubt it. They'll probably stay exactly like they are, just as the TAs (Travel Centers of America) and Petros did in 2007.
Utahans seem to have bad luck with their investment deals. The Osmond family has had their share of bankruptcies too.
