 Welcome. It is great to have such a crowd with us this morning for this important event. Thank you for joining us to celebrate the opening, historic opening, and expansion of the Burlington International Airport. The completed terminal integration project, which is what we call this whole facility that is about to open, represents a dramatic step forward in our vision to expand this critical regional resource for future generations in a way that is safer for travelers, more welcoming and comfortable, and better for the environment for Burlingtonians and visitors alike going forward. Burlington has been proud to steward the airport for over 100 years now. Creating and continuously improving the terminal has been a big part of that stewardship. You know this is an important building, it's often the last look that visitors to Vermont have before they depart, and it's a place where Vermonters both wave goodbye and farewell to friends and family and where they embrace loved ones upon return. So we've always really believed that the terminal was a critical part of the traveling experience. We're proud of the decades really of investment into this building, and today's expansion is another important step forward for that long history. We're celebrating this expansion today, and we're going to hear from from TSA Chuck Wyatt, who's the Federal Security Director for Vermont, who will go through the details in a minute of how we'll actually pivot from the active TSA entrance that's still operating right now to this new modern facility starting next Tuesday, October 11th, and Nick Longo, our aviation director, will share some more details as well, and in a moment I'm going to hand over the microphone to Senator Patrick Leahy, who clearly we would not be standing here today without his leadership on this, and so many other airport initiatives. This future forward addition to the airport is made possible by 19 million dollars of FAA grants that Senator Leahy has advocated for and made happen in a number of ways, and it is again, this is kind of a capstone investment here at the airport after decades of investment that the Senator has brought back home. I'd also like to thank our entire talented airport team, led by the new aviation director Nick Longo for shepherding this project, and this is one of those rare projects where we hit all three goals. It's on time, it's actually ahead of schedule, on budget, and you can see, and as you tour through, and we hope you will spend some time with us this morning and get to see some of the details, whether from the artwork, or just the details upstairs with the way that waiting for passengers has been detailed, you'll clearly see the great quality that is in this as well. It is the rare project that gets all of that, schedule, quality, and budget in one project. It is exciting to have had that success as really one of our first major post-pandemic infrastructure projects. We have a lot of other infrastructure projects underway right now, and it's exciting to see this one be the first one to come to life. I want to recognize a few other groups as well. We're joined by Tim George, who's the chair of the airport commission, which plays an important critical role advising me and the city council and working with other communities on airport matters. I want to recognize the local construction and trades people whose skill and hard work make this possible, and you can really see the care that's gone into the design and construction again as you as you tour the building today. I know that every traveler to pass through these doors will see a glimpse of the best of Vermont and Burlington, a place where we invest in safety and innovation and where we value local goods, labor, and artists, and where the well-being of our community drives progress and where we take pride and pleasure and hospitality. So thanks again everyone for being here today, and with that I'd like to invite Senator Leahy to the podium. Senator, welcome. So good to see you here. Thank you. Thank you, Monroe. I appreciate that. It is also good to be home, and after 31 days in the hospital it's good to be learning how to walk again, which is which is really fun. But I remember, Director, we were here, we were just talking about this when it's just about a year ago. We were standing outdoors with the fence around and talking about we're standing right here with the new unit's going to be in. And Director Longo was explaining it to me and describing it. And I said, okay, we'll get the money, but I don't fully understand where it's going to be, and now I see this. And it's great because the first time I ever flew I was a student at St. Mike's in my teens. I flew out of here, we just walked out on the plane. It was a DC-3, if anybody knows what those are. And I've told our children once, they had flown from the time they were babies. I was in my late teens before I flew. They said, Dad, they hadn't invented the airplane, since you were before you were in your late teens. But, you know, going back and forth to Washington, usually several times a month. And I think of the times, though, that we might so and I'd be boarding the 6 a.m. departure DC. Other times with snowy weather coming back here about midnight when everything's blanket with snow. Well, it, we realized, never could have served Vermont all these years without the hundreds of Vermonters who make the airport run. It's, I've seen so many of the faces I've recognized over the years. And now sometimes members of their family, their children are starting working here. Look at all the people here, mechanics, baggage handlers, food service workers, the TSE agents. Think what they do. Think what they do day in and day out to make this part of Vermont such a thriving place that it is. So, Mayor, I thank you. I thank Security Director Wyatt, Director Longo, as well as former Director Gene Richards, to turn this, which are just drawings that I first saw into 31,855 square feet of reality directly around us. Anger birth construction, what they did. You know, this went from a cornfield to a runway just about a hundred years ago. And look where we are now. I have flown up here so many times with officials from Washington or other senators. And they come from areas much larger than this. And they said, we would give anything to have an airfield and an airport like you have. And I felt privileged being chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee where I could make suggestions of what either should come to Vermont and what we need for infrastructure. Because you can't be thinking of yesterday. You're going to be thinking 10 years from now, 20 years from now. How do you advance for that? And so we helped the airport become the international hub for tourism and commerce this today. Economic engine that supports our local communities and employers. But it's also a center for the innovative businesses and training centers, technology, science, engineering. This, just think of the population of Vermont. You have communities that have twice the population of our whole state. They do not have an airport like this. And we should take advantage of it. For students coming in here, for people visiting family and friends, for any field you want to talk about, we have it here. And so I thank everybody. Getting the money was the easy part. You did the hard part. And I am so proud of everybody here. So thank you very, very much. The other thing is going to make it easier. We go back and forth because after our retire, we're still going to fly back a lot to see our grandchildren. It's hard to follow that. But I have to say, look at this amazing space, right? The airport, the community that came behind us, the senator, the mayor, they have given us an amazing space to operate within. And from the behalf of the TSA to all of you and all of them, thank you very much for providing it. We're backdroped by a lot of our TSOs. They're the ones that are going to be looking to serve you in this wonderful new space starting next week, as the mayor said. The 11th of October is right around the corner. And it's going to be a beautiful day when we open up in here and we're starting to process passengers on these lanes that are flanking us right now. One of the best things about these lanes is these are the newest, latest, and greatest in TSA technology. This type of lane setup will allow our Vermonters to come through here and not have to take laptops out of bags anymore. LGA's will stay in bags now because of the wonderful technology that is in this checkpoint provided by the agency and the wonderful Senate Appropriations Committee. We look at this as the next step in the state of art, state of the art TSA checkpoints nationwide. This is a component of the entire security ecosystem throughout the country. We look forward to being at the front edge of that now. On Tuesday, we will start allowing folks and passengers and ourselves the beauty of working in here. When it comes to TSA and our belief in how we're going to support this airport, this is a major component in making the transition for the passengers easier and better. We're not going to have to have as many bag checks because of the wonderful technology as well. And I must make a plug. The TSA is behind us, working very hard each and every day, and we look forward to hiring many more of them to work in this great space. And I'll pass it over to Nick. Thank you. We made it. I am so, so happy to be here today. Thank you all again for joining us today. This is another historic milestone for our city and for this airport. So thank you. Another round for everybody that was involved and everybody that made this happen. Today represents the culmination of our incredible partnership in the vision of so many people. The new building starts the transformation of our terminal into the state of the art facility serving over one million passengers annually in and out of BTV. Our partnership with Engelberth and Jacobs has been outstanding with all their technical support and their expertise across all of the trades. So thank you very much for that. But more than just the building construction itself, we've strengthened our partnership with additional city departments. And through this process, we've formed alliances such as with the Burlington City Arts and the stunning reimagining of Maple Apple Birch, which is this new art piece off to the side with the artist Andy and Elizabeth. And Fletcher Free Library as we expand what digital book options are available to all of our passengers right here in the terminal building coming soon, coming soon. Thank you again, Senator Leahy and your entire team for your continuous advocacy for our state and specifically for our airport. And the wonderful leadership of Mayor Weinberger for your inspiration of this airport and the and growing this airport responsibly. Thank you both very much. The Transportation Security admin administration is the heart of this terminal for all of our passengers and hundreds of employees every single day. The women and men, some of them standing behind me today of this agency are our neighbors, our friends and provide an invaluable security element to our everyday traveling experience. They helped design this building. In fact, the carpet was selected by TSA. Don't know why the color blue is in there. That's just great. I can't thank them all enough for all of their service. And I'm eager to see them grow in this new space here. We are excited next week next Tuesday to start welcoming our passengers to this new security checkpoint. Providing them with the elevated travel experience they deserve right here out of BTV with all of our incredible airline partners. That's why we're here. And there's more. We're just getting started. We're now embarking on our next visionary future of the North Terminal Replacement project. Right now we're calling it next. I don't know what that stands for just yet, though. So thank you all very, very much. And now I'd like with the help of Mayor Weinberger, Senator Leahy, FSD Wyatt, as well as a few other folks to join me at the front here of the podium to officially cut this ribbon. Following, I'd like to invite you to grab a commemorative bag. Thank you, Jacobs and the team for putting that together. Enjoy some of the BTV swag that we have off to the side and some food sponsored by oh boy, sugar snaps. Sorry, sugar snap. So thank you all very much. And then we can answer any questions and explore the building. So I'd like the official ribbon cutting to take place. This is a prime example of what's not to put in your bag. No, don't look at those. A couple of photo opportunities before we cut. And then we should all start cutting.