The regional carrier will begin offering non-stop flights from the Central Minnesota airport to Phoenix/Mesa Gateway Airport in December, according to the St. Cloud Times. The newspaper notes the St. Cloud airport has not had commercial air service since December 2009 when Delta stopped its regional flights to the Twin Cities.

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.

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."

Airport officials say they will reveal the name Wednesday of a new airline locating at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The Minneapolis Airports Commission says the airline flies internationally but will fly only to domestic airports from Minneapolis.

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.

Mesaba's parent company, Pinnacle Airlines, is already based in Memphis and currently has about 800 Minnesota employees. Delta sold the regional air carrier last year. Mesaba's roots are in Minnesota's World War II-era iron range.

Pinnacle Airlines Corp., which flies regional jets for Delta Air Lines, is still working its way through the bankruptcy process. A spokesman for the Memphis-based regional carrier tells the Pioneer Press the final report is several weeks. Pinnacle is exploring every opportunity to reduce costs, including whether to move its corporate headquarters to the Twin Cities.