St. Cloud officials are expected to officially announce new flights to the Phoenix/Mesa area in Arizona on Thursday, the St. Cloud Times reports. The Greater St. Cloud Development Corp. has been trying to lure a new airline to the Central Minnesota airport for more than a year. Al Kremers, chairman of the GSDC Air Service Corps. tells the newspaper, “It’s not Chicago, but we were looking for business and leisure travel carriers to come in and out of St. Cloud and this is a step in that direction."

The Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation hopes to raise $5 million for the effort. The idea is to attract an airline that would operate flights between St. Cloud and O'Hare Airport twice a day.

The $750,000 grant will be used to help the city attract airlines he St. Cloud Regional Airport -- which has been without commercial air service since Delta Airlines ended its flights there in 2009.

Spirit Airlines is already expanding its service out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Starting in April 2013, Spirit will add non-stop flights to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The Florida-based airline will also offer seasonal non-stop service to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers between Nov. 8 through April 24, 2013. Spirit debuted in the Twin Cities market less than two months ago with daily flights to Chicago and Las Vegas.

Starting Nov. 1, the regional carrier will offer two weekly non-stop flights from the Rochester International Airport to Mesa, Ariz., the Post Bulletin reports. Allegiant Airlines ended its service from Rochester to Las Vegas in 2010 because of a lack of demand. The newspaper notes Mayo Clinic has a campus in a suburb of Phoenix.

The new plan outlined by St. Cloud business leaders includes working with the Federal Aviation Administration to secure a gate at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. The point man for St. Cloud's new effort previously brought American Airlines service to Fargo. The plan calls for bringing an airline to St. Cloud by early 2013.