Pump prices dip below $3 per gallon for Thanksgiving travel

LITTLE ROCK, AR - If you're getting ready to hit the road this Thanksgiving you might have already noticed prices at the pump are plummeting.

Nationally the average for regular unleaded sits at $3.41 but Arkansas is a quarter cheaper at $3.16 a gallon.

Look around Little Rock you'll see it. Posted prices at the pump are on their way down.

"I never thought I'd say that's a good price,” says one driver.

But in today's economy, gas prices under $3 a gallon is welcome positive news for drivers filling up at Raceway on south University Avenue on Monday.

"$2.91 is pretty good right now,” Dwayne Doran says. “I've gone to some other places and it was 3-something. That's why I stopped and got it."

Thanksgiving travel is expected to increase for a 4th straight year after it plummeted in 2008 when the economy collapsed.

Cathy Lane on Hensley says she is ready to get back out on the road and plans to drive to Georgia this week.

"I just came back from Lexington and it was way higher there. Hopefully it will stay down and stay down until we come back, stay down until the end of the year, stay down forever," Lane says.

And while lower gas prices are a nice thing to see around the holidays, drivers we talked to say they're not quite ready to call it an economic bounce back just yet.

"I don't know it can't hurt but who knows," Lane says.

It's the opposite for airlines dealing with record fuel prices. So to maximize capacity and demand, expect full flights all Thanksgiving week.

That's something 90% of travelers, on the nation's highways, will be able to avoid.

Clinton National Airport says it expects travel to increase this year, but won't have final projections until Tuesday.

Arkansas gas prices were $3.50 a gallon one month ago.

Thanksgiving gas prices are forecasted to be about 7 cents cheaper this year compared to 2011.