# Proposal u nder the Small Community Air Service Development Program,
Docket DOT

- OST

- 2013

- 0120

Fort Collins

– Loveland Municipal Airport
4900 Earhart Road, Loveland, CO 80538 Phone: (970)962

- 2850

Fax: (970)962

- 2855 Duns No. 076481407
, CO

- 0042 

# Contact Informatio n:

Fort Collins

– Loveland Municipal Airport 4900 Earhart Road, Loveland, CO 80538 Phone: (970) 962

- 2850

Fax: (970) 962

- 2855

www.fortloveair.com Jason Licon Airport Director3 

# E xecutive Summary :

The Cities of Fort Collins & Loveland, Colorado, under the direction of the Fort Collins

- Loveland Municipal Airport (FNL) are seeking a grant award in all or part of $ 2 00,000. FNL will support the grant with a local match of 10% of awarde d funds, but also anticipates greater participation through local partne rship in the business community.

The Fort Collins

- Loveland Municipal Airport (FNL) is jointly owned and operated by the Cities of Fort Collins and Loveland. Located in t he heart of No rthern Colorado, t he airport has a full time airport manager who reports to the City Managers for both Loveland and Fort Collins. The Fort Collins/Loveland Airport is a primary commercial service airport

.

S ince October of 2012, the Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport has been without scheduled commercia l service. Between 2003 and 2012 , the Airport was served by Allegiant Airlines with less than daily service to Las Vegas (LAS) and Phoenix Gateway (AZA). The immediate and long term financial impact that this ev ent will have on the Airport, the cities of Fort Collins, Loveland and all of Northern Colorado in having affordable and easy access to the National Transportation Systems will be substantial if annual passenger enplanements are allowed to drop below the F AA required minimal 10,000 enplanements at the Fort Collins

– Loveland municipal Airport (FNL ). The temporary loss of air service is a major r isk for the Airport ‘ s financial sustainability, as air service generated revenues were a critical support mechani sm for airport operational funding in addition to providing all local grant matching shares for Federal and State grant programs.

If annual passenger enplanement numbers drop below the FAA minimum, the Airport will experience a n $ 850,000 annual short fal l that it will need to find alternate financial resource to replace it in order to maintain its operational funding at its current level. The FNL Catchment Area has successful ly maintained and supported commercial air service at FNL since 200 3 . The service (as illustrated in this submittal) was consistently well utilized by the residents of Northern Colorado. T he Airport has been active in the development of an air service development strategy that will enable the A irport to mark et for new air carrier servi ce a s well as marketing the new service

. These critical factors along with the pressing need to keep the TSA present at FNL so that the communities of Fort Collins and Loveland can maintain its aggressive air service strategy is the basis for this applica tion request.

The Airport has the facilities and infrastructure to handle commercial airline needs and the growth of general and corporate aviation. The Airport is in jeopardy of losing Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staffing presence if reg ular scheduled service is not regained. The community is supportive of air service development efforts and has c reate d a program and local support network in order f or the Airport to be a key transportation supporter which is critical for the economic gro wth of the area. Competition will always be present with the competition of Denver International Airport (DEN )

.4 T he business tactics of the Airport are based on the strategies, objectives, and goals. T he focus is on: (1) Working with Alaska Airlines in potential service to Northern Colorado destinations Seattle and Los Angeles; (2) Work ing with Delta Airlines for potential service to Minneapolis or Detroit to meet the critical international beyond travel needs for companies who need such access to a nd from Northern Colorado; (3) Work ing with JetBlue to provide convenient air service to key west and east coast destinations, utilizing the same approach that JetBlue took with its current Austin service model to major domestic and international markets; (4) Begin ning di scussions with the new American/ US Airways for consideration of potential Charlotte, Chicago and Phoenix service; (5) Work ing with Spirit Airlines to bring low far e service to Dallas/Fort Worth; (6) Continuing to work with Allegiant Airline s in an effort to bring Allegiant service back to FNL: (7) Implementation of the Wingless Flight Program with Southwest Airlines

. The SCASDP will allow FNL to continue pursuing these opportunities.

The top five domestic markets that are being discussed w ith the airlines mentioned above are Las Vegas, Phoenix, Orlando, San Diego and San Francisco.



## Introduction and General Information about Fort Collins

- Loveland Airport:
The Fort Collins

- Loveland Municipal Airport (FNL) is the gateway to blue skies, remarkable recreation, and vibrant commerce. FNL is an FAA

- certified general aviation and commercial service airport. The airport is located in east Loveland just west of Interstate 25, just minutes from downtown Loveland
, Fort Collins
, Greeley , and Windsor

– an area with a well

- deserved reput ation as one of the best places to live (and visit) in the USA. In addition, The Fort Collins

- Loveland Municipal Airport has convenient nearby accommodations and access to the area’s many recreational amenities, including Rocky Mountain National Park

. Up until October of 2012, the Airport was served by Allegiant Airlines with non

- stop service to Las Vegas (LAS) and Mesa/Phoenix (AZA). Allegiant had served FNL sinc e 2003 and operated with load factors in the mid 90% range to LAS and upper 80% to AZA throughout the time they ended service in 2012.

We’re in the news: Fort Collins

- Loveland Municipal Airport Leaders loo k for input to bring in new airline

... 

### About Fort Collins/Loveland:

Fort Collins: “Crafting a dynamic culture of innovation and stewardship to cultivate quality of place and economic healt h” Fort Collins lies on the edge of the prairie, on the Cache La P oudre River at the foot of the Rocky Mountains between Denver and Cheyenne at 4,984 feet. It’s the largest city in Northern Colorado and home to Colorado State University

. Fort Collins is no stranger to “Top 10” and “Best 100” lists over the last few years and that trend is continuing. The city was named as the second best place for business and careers by Forbes, chosen best in its class as a place for young professionals to live and work by Next Generation Cons ulting and selected as the best place in Colorado to raise a family by Business Week.5 City of Loveland: “Assist citizens, community groups and economic d

evelopment organizations with the creation and retention of sustainable employment which contributs to the long term economic diversity of our community.”

Loveland is situated at 4,982 feet and acknowledged as the Gateway to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. The city is commonly referred to as Am erica’s “Sweetheart City” because of the world renowned Valentine Re

- Mail P rogram. Much like Fort Collins , it has been recognized for its great quality of life by US News and Money Magazine. Loveland has a diverse in business community along with strong arts & culture, and tourism. Both the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland are committed and engaged stakeholders in making the Fort Collins

- Loveland Airport world class. With funds made available through the Small Commu nity Air Service Development Pilot Program, FNL plans to continue the development and implementation of an aggressive community based air service strategic plan with goals and objectives of meeting all of the growth needs of its aviation requirements (comm ercial, corporate and general aviation) needs for its citizens and business. This plan will work to increase awareness of airport initiatives, support incumbent carriers, provide new jobs and improve the region’s access to the air transportation network.



## Grant Request Justification In the past 10 months, the Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport contracted with Dulles, Virginia based airport management company, AvPORTS to development a Comprehensive Strategic Marketing Plan. The objective of this effort was to p rovide immediate direction to the critical issues the cities of Fort Collins, Loveland and its Airport are now facing with the unexpected and unplanned for announcement by Allegiant Airlines to cease its nearly 10 years of service at FNL. The market resea rch that was conducted by AvPORTS was unprecedented for the cities of Fort Collins, Loveland and all of Northern Colorado. The research, which the highlights are a part of this submittal, discovered that the Northern Colorado Region is a stand

- alone air

s ervice market. The research identified that nearly 20% of Denver’s O&D bookings are being bought in the Fort Collins service area. This equates to a pool of over 5 million potential travelers that could access the National Transportation System more effici ently through FNL as opposed to being forced to drive on congested highways to DEN. The research and Strategic Marketing Plan has laid the foundation not only for this Grant request, but also for effective and productive discussions with a potential airlin e(s) to begin providing service to the residents of Northern Colorado. The communities of Fort Collins and Loveland have all the necessary tools to present a highly competitive case to an airline and have been actively doing it over the past 10 months . Th is is combination of potential market demand, a strong Community Stakeholder Support Base and a strategic Airport and new service Marketing Support Programs. The only component missing is the financial resources required to implement the program immediate l y and sustain it over time. Thus the true need for the SCAD Grant Funds. This section illustrates the key market assets and rationale for the merits of this Grant request. Catchment Area/Leakage Update: Superior flight options and fare discrepancies have historically force residents to drive between one and three hours for better service.6 

### Defi ciencies of Alternative Airport in Region
P assengers within FNL’s catchmen t area are forced by a temporary lac k of service to use the Denver International Airport . While this premier dom estic and international gateway offer s non

- stops around the country and around the world, congestion both on the ground and in the air can present a significant limitation on the ease, reliability and availability of air service for Fort Collins

- Loveland Catchment Area passengers. The travel time by car to DIA from FNL can be over an hour and a half in no traffic and for those passengers traveling from Estes Park can take up to four hours to get to DIA.

Northern C olorado Fact: 4,000, 000 cars pass through Loveland en

- route to Estes Park & Rocky Mountain National Park annually. This statistic further illustrates the potential demand for air service at the Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport. Travel from Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National P ark is a minimum 4 hour ordeal from Estes Park to Denver due to mountain driving conditions and road access, traffic congestion on I

– 25 and simply the processing time required at DIA to get to one’s flight departure gate in time. This same trip will tak e less than 75 minutes to process from start to finish at the Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport (FNL). Market research has identified an estimated 10,000 annual enplanements from the Town of Estes Park that could utilize FNL instead of DEN. This would go a l ong way in aiding FNL’s efforts to maintain its annual minimal 10,000 enplanement requirements. As stated in the Executive Summary of this application, Allegiant Airlines had profitably served Northern Colorado from FNL since 2003. In fact, on numerous occ asions at the Airline’s own airport conferences and meetings, would refer to the Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport as one of its model airports to FNL’s peers. The next set of graphs illustrates Allegiant’s successful history at FNL. These char ts will also v alidate to potential new airlines that the Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport has a high brand level awareness among the residents of Northern Colorado and gaining utilization of their service will have a high probability for success at FNL.78 A passenger booking data report completed earlier this year indicated that the Airport’s catchment area produces 19% of the total Denver International O&D bookings, which equates to 5,233,010 O&D passengers. The total FNL catchment area generates an estimate d 7,500 PDEW, and the primary catchment area (within 30 minute drive of FNL) generates 3,000 PDEW. In addition, approximately 68% of travelers utilizing Cheyenne (WY) Municipal Airport originate from the FNL catchment area, which equates to 26,472 annual O &D passengers. The top five domestic markets are Las Vegas, Phoenix, Orlando, San Diego and San Francisco. Las Vegas is by far the largest domestic market in the FNL Catchment with 85,826 outbound passengers a year, or 234 passengers daily each way. While Allegiant provided non

- stop service to LAS from FNL, FNL captured 27 percent of the Catchment

- Las Vegas market. The rest of the top ten are all business destinations: Orange County, Seattle, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth. As a secondary airport for t he Denver area, it is assumed that FNL will be most attractive to air service by regional airlines and Frontier to markets within 1,000 statute miles from FNL. Of the top 25 Denver markets, 17 fit this parameter. For FNL, AvPORTS focused on 12 airports serving 10 markets that can be served with regional jet aircraft on a frequent basis. Eight of these markets currently have nonstop service from Colorado Springs

. The population of the total FNL Catchment area is equa l to 19% of the total I

- 25 corridor population.910 The retail sales and effective buying income tends to be less for the FNL Catchment area but so is the cost of living. AvPORTS has estimated a total economic share for FNL of 18%.

Commercial air service at FNL is in fact a small part, but a part nonetheless, to a regional solution for improving the reliability of air service for passeng ers in the Denver metropolitan area. Fort Collins

- Loveland Airport is a perfect example of such a regional airport that, if afforded the o pportunity to provide non

- stop service to a regional hub with convenient connections , could be of great benefit to passengers who use d it previously, as well as , those who did not. 

### Market Traffic, Yield, and Competitive Data:
Sinc e FNL has had limited air service to only LAS and AZA over the past nine years, the Airport has minimal passenger traffic data that can be used for a detailed passenger forecast. In this case, a passenger forecast was developed based on the Airport’s catc hment area economic share of the total I

- 25 corridor market covering the catchment areas for Colorado Springs Airport (COS), Denver International Airport (DIA), and FNL.

The Total Fort Collins

- Loveland Catchment Area has been defined to include a sixtee n county area in Northern Colorado, Southeast Wyoming and Southwestern Nebraska. This area has a population base of 863,330 residents that has experienced rapid growth since 2000. Larimer and Weld Counties account for 82% of the total population. The t otal Fort Collins

– Loveland Catchment Area generated 5,259,010. This equates to 7,200 passengers daily each way. The Primary Fort Collins

– Loveland Catchment Area (within a 30 minute drive of FNL) generated over 3,000 passengers daily each way in 2012. The N orthern Colorado Region has three primary commercial airports: Fort Collins

– Loveland (FNL), Cheyenne (CYS) and Denver International Airport (DEN). DIA is a major hub for three different carriers; United, Southwest and Frontier. This creates a unique oppo rtunity for FNL with the competing airlines serving DIA without a hub presence. DIA currently captures the lion’s share of the Total Fort Collins

– Loveland Catchment Area generated bookings (99.5%) followed by CYS (.05). Approximately 68% of the passenger s utilizing CYS originate from the Total Fort Collins

– Loveland Catchment Area which equates to 26,472 annual O&D passengers. These passengers reside in the northern portion of the Catchment Area.

The local origin and destination passengers for YE June 30, 2012 for DIA is utilized as the base year of the forecast. The data is factored by the estimated economic share for FNL to arrive at the potential local origin and destination passengers for FNL. To determine the amount of connecting passengers that m ay be Fort Collins/Loveland Airport Economic Share
Airport Area Population Housing Retail Sales Buying Income Buying Power
Units (mill) (mill) Index

Fort Collins/Loveland 863,339 362,032 $18,039 $31,326 0.1967

Denver International 2,815,718 1,190,130 $48,056 $71,930 1.0640

Colorado Springs 872,416 360,457 $11,871 $16,495 0.2600

Total 4,551,473 1,912,619 $77,966 $119,751 1.5207

FNL % of Total 19.0% 18.9% 23.1% 26.2% 13%

Source: US Census Bureau, 2011 and Survey of Buying Power 2010, US Department of Commerce, State of Colo Department of Revenue11 available, the experience of COS for the same period is used. An analysis of secondary airports in California was also done for comparison purpose. It was determined that smaller airports that have regional airline service like Sonoma County Airpor t have a reduced capture rate. When an airport like Orange County Airport has standard jet service by major airlines, then we find that the capture rate can be greater than the economic share. Sonoma County has a capture rate of 25% and Orange County has a capture rate of 117%. This study shows that Allegiant’s FNL’s service to LAS had a market share of approximately 5.4% of the total Denver area

- LAS market. Based on this experience, it is estimated that air service by regional airlines at FNL will hav e a capture rate of 30%.



## Pr oposed Service
A Market with Strong Demand, High Fares and High Connectivity With no commercial air service out of FNL, flight options and destinations conven iently accessible from FNL are nonexistent for ar ea passeng ers. Access to a regional hub with a substantial local market in addition to connecting service to beyond destinations would significantly improve the level and quality o f air service at FNL. One of the most suitable regional hubs for the FNL



### Higher Air F ares The closest commercial airports to the Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport are approximately 56 miles away at Denver International Airport and 45 miles away at Cheyenne Regional Airport. Denver being a large commercial airport with air service to most maj or U.S. and international destinations. The air fares at Denver tend to be lower than other competing Front Range Airports due to the larger presence of Southwest Airlines at DEN and predominance of United’s hub operations is an attraction to some local pa ssengers who either work or have other ties in the Denver area and enjoy the number of non

- stop flights and reasonable fares offered at DEN.12 Even though the major airports are not far in terms of miles, the drive times to the two airports can be very len gthy. Highway congestion in and out of the I

- 25 Corridor area is very congested during peak times and congestion in the Denver metro area is significantly worse. This highway problem is a stimulus for airline passengers to use the conveniently located Fort Collins

- Loveland Airport. Easy access and close, free parking are a real positive for FNL.

Also, as a secondary airport for the Denver metro region, it is assumed that FNL will be attractive to air service by regional airlines to markets within 1,000 s tatute miles from FNL. Of the top 25 Denver markets, 17 fit this parameter.



### Fort Collins

– Loveland Primary Catchment Area Top 25 Domestic Markets

**Source: AvPORTS MIDT Booking Data base Adjusted with US DOT DB1b O&D Passenger Data (YE 2Q 2012)**13 

### Fort Collins

– Loveland Primary Catchment Area Top 25 International Markets

Source: AvPORTS MIDT Booking Data base Adjusted with US DOT DB1b O&D Passenger Data (YE 2Q 2012)14 

### Fort Collins

- Loveland Airport’s Air Serv ice Development Efforts
Fort Collins

- Lov eland Airport’s Plan for overcoming these deficiencies and meeting the air service needs of area residents takes a strategic approach and works collaboratively with the tactics mentioned earlier in the plan. It begins with continued implementation of the M aster Plan Update which includes infrastructure improvements and continuing efforts toward getting the virtual tower concept with the S t ate of Colorado Department of Aeronautics which will therefore enable more air service opportunities. It continues beyon d the airport’s perimeter through pervasive and effective community engagement to raise awareness about the Airport, be a familiar face at local events and demonstrate the Airport’s commitment to the region. Following from that is the commitment to continu e to expand community support to finance the Airport’s operations and growth efforts.



### FNL’s Northern Colorado Stakeholder & Business Community is comprised of:

In addition to the above highlighted Community Stakeholders, The Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport has several other key Community Stakeholder supporters. They include; the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park , the Loveland Cha mber of Commerce
, Loveland Commercial LLC ., Total Facility Care, Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation
, Loveland Economic Developmen t, Loveland Convention & Visitors Bureau, Fort Collins Economic Health Center
, Cumberland & Western Resources
, Metro Denver Aviation Coalition (MDAC)
, Colorado Tourism Off ice
, Colorado Division of Aeronautics
, Visit Estes Park
, City of Estes Park
, Woodward, Colorado State University , Cargill
, Otter Box
, RMI
, Forney Industries , Odell Brewing, The Federal ResearchLabs
, Hewlett Packard , Mountain Aviation, Colorado jetCenters, Avionics Specialists AVSPEC, Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce , UCH

- University of Colorado Health and Science , the Fort Collins Conventio n & Visitors Bureau . Each of these Community Stakeholders is ready to assist FNL to ensure an airline has a successful and long standing presence at FNL.15 Emphasizing the importance of Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park as a critical marketing par tner for the Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport, nearly 4,000,000 cars pass through Loveland en

- route to Estes Park & Rocky Mountain National Park annually. Rocky Mountain National Park is not only one of the top destinations in Colorado, but also in the Coun try and Internationally. In particular, the Stanley Hotel brings a global reach to Estes Park. The Fort Collins

– Loveland Airport is the closes Airport.

In addition to a concerted effort to improve the Airport infrastructure, FNL maintains strong ties a nd partnerships with the community in an aggressive marketing campaign to increase local awareness and utilization of the Airport. FNL maintains one of the lowest CPE’s in the nation . The Airport is in continual dialog ue with airlines interested in serving FNL now.



### Community Support The FNL community actively supports the Airport with support provided by both the Cities of Fort Collins and Loveland and will continue to do so. However, with the help of the SCASD Grant this will be able to ensure an airline has the best chance of succeeding and growing at FNL. This grant will help to cover start up operating expenses

. As FNL has proven that it can sustain air service and is committed to the air service needs of its communities (commercial, corporate, general aviation), its initial market intelligence has identified the next steps in growing the access for residents to national air transportation network. These include new destinations such as Los Angeles or Orlando and increased marketing efforts to bring tr avelers inbound to the Northern Front Range. 

### Project Proposal & Costs With funds made available through the Small Community Air Service Development Pilot Program, FNL plans to market to new airlines and continue with the community based air service strateg ic plan with goals and objectives of meeting the growth needs of its aviation requirements (corporate
, general aviation
, and commercial) needs for its citizens and business. This plan will work to increase awareness of airport initiatives, support incumben t carriers, provide new jobs and improve the region’s access to the air transportation network. This plan will also include substantial public engagement in the local airport sponsor communities to further enhance the relationship between the airport and c ommunity members, including the general public and business interests.



### The Project P roposal is outlined below : Marketing the Airport to Commercial Airlines : The focus of this strategy will be to continue the development of critical market data and the dev elopment of appropriate business initiatives to pursue the enhancement of commercial servic e options for the greater than 83 0,000 residents of the FNL Northern Colorado catchment area. Securing commercial air service will diminish the d anger of reducing F AA grant funding, with the continued obligation of adhering to regulatory standards for a commercially certified airport.16 

## C ommercial Air Service Focus: The focus of this strategy will be to continue development of critical market data and the development o f appropriate business initiatives to pursue the enhancement of commercial service options for the greater than 83 0,000 residents of the FNL Northern Colorado catchment area.



### 1. Growth of both leisure and non - leisure co mmercial traffic

– Continuance of the str ategic communications/marketing strategy targeted to build corporate buy

- in by the major employers in the service area.

a. Deliverables:

• Continue u pdate existing catchment area research and identify target business markets for attraction of business travel op tions to FNL

• Continue discussions with interested airlines for future service to identified cities

• Identify facility improvements needed for increased traffic

• Continued d evelop ment of cost model, including funding options, for facility improvements related to air carrier service

2. 

### Identify in

- bound leisure traffic to Loveland and define marketing strategies for those target markets

. This will provide the groundwork for an on

- going communications strategy targeted to communicating the value and need for corp orate/community buy

- in and support for the air service development efforts.

a. Deliverables:

• I dentify the target audience and engage local travel agencies as partners to market the airport

.

• Utilize local and regional economic development offices to market FN L

• Create marketing tools for campaigning other low cost carriers

• Develop partnerships with existing regional marketing efforts, including but not limited to the Fort Collins Visitors and Conventions Bureau, City of Loveland Marketing Commission, Larimer Co unty Ranch, and regional Chambers of Commerce 3. Marketing Air Service Once Obtained: The focus of this strategy will be to further enhance the establishment of a new route once obtained from an air carrier for commercial service to one of the cities previous ly identified. The outcome will ensure that an airline is successful in the new route and will help to sustain future service.

Total Timeline:

• 18 months from approval of grant

Total Cost:

• $200
, 000.00 grant

• 10% Community Share17 

## Conclusions FNL’s propos al will assist by : giving a means to market the A irport to airlines and increase awareness for the A irport, increased jobs, and infrastructure development and secure the financial sustainability of the airport
, resulting in millions of dollars in economic impact for the Fort Collins

- Loveland region. If annual passenger enplanement numbers drop below the FAA minimum, the Airport will experience a $1.5 million short fall that it will need to find alternate financial resource to replace it in order to mainta in its operational funding at its current level. The service (as illustrated in this submittal) was consistently well utilized by the residents of Northern Colorado. The Airport has been active in the development of an air service development strategy that will enable the Airport to market for new air carrier service as well as marketing the new service. Through an aggressive public/private m arketing initiative, FNL will be able to attract an airline that will serve the domestic and connecting internation al travel ers that are being generated out of its primary catchment/service area further increasing the economic impact to the region. In the area of potential new service (routes), FNL has identified several potential markets that will require an aggressi ve marketing and promotional efforts. A recent proposal for new service was submitted to an airline that has expressed interest in serving FNL. However, airlines require low risk opportunities in these economically uncertain times, hence the need for fina ncial, community and marketing support for airlines to deter startup and even ongoing operating costs. This will be the use of proposed SCASD funds. Airlines have expressed interest in serving the Fort Collins

- Loveland Airport if sufficient grant funds we re made available to subsidize the initial start of service. With this level of airline interest and support, FNL is confident that if afforded the opportunity to leverage federal financial support with a suitable SCASD Grant in the amount requested of $20 0,000, FNL will successfully secure new air service.



## Acknowledgements The Fort Collins Loveland Airport and the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland are grateful for the opportunity to apply for this grant. It is our belief that this money is critical to the future of our airport. We believe the opportunities to serve the public are substantial given the growth specific to our regional market (evidence of that commitment is the substantial match we are willing to co mmit today). This initial funding could make possibilities realities. Thank you for your consideration. Please contact our airport director with any questions about our operation.