After nearly 45 years of operation, Flower Aviation closed its doors at Colorado’s Pueblo Memorial Airport last week, just three months after its other location, which had served Salina (Kan.) Regional Airport for more than four decades, was taken over by Avflight. Known for its 10-minute quick-turn service, steak giveaways and in the past for its “Flower Girls,” the Pueblo location was the last to bear the Flower name.

“It’s part of the business cycle,” said Pueblo Airport director Mark Lovin. “I don’t think they really recovered from the recession and they found it difficult to compete.” Rocky Mountain FBO took on some of Flower’s former staff and is now the sole provider on the field, which is base for 100 aircraft, seven of them jets.

The former Flower Aviation facility–owned by the airport and offering a 3,000-sq-ft terminal, 10,000-sq-ft hangar and adjoining ramp space–will be put out for RFP at the beginning of next month. “We think it’s a pretty valuable piece of property, so we’ll see what the private market tells us,” Lovin told AIN.