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.

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 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 Atlanta-based airline says the Twin Cities is a key part of its operations. Delta's senior vice president of Minnesota operations told the Star Tribune the airline is investing more than $3 million in new equipment at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Delta already employs 12,000 people in Minnesota and plans to add 400 positions in June.