BLOOMINGTON — Frontier Airlines has scheduled flights from the
Central Illinois Regional Airport to Denver.

New air service from the Twin Cities is expected to be announced
this morning at an airport news conference. While officials
declined to name the airline Wednesday night, flight information
already was appearing on the Frontier website.

Flights on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays starting May
18 were on the site. The schedule listed departures on those days
from Denver at 3:10 p.m. and CIRA at 6:50 p.m. and one-way, adult
fares from $79.80 to $134.80.

Officials from the airport, the city of Bloomington, town of
Normal and McLean County either declined to comment or did not
return phone messages Wednesday night.

Frontier, which ended local air service to Denver in 2001,
previously confirmed its interest in returning to the Twin
Cities.

The announcement, being made at a 9 a.m. news conference near
the airline ticket counters, follows the recent formation of the
Community Air Service Initiative, a nonprofit effort spearheaded by
the McLean County Chamber of Commerce to attract additional air
service to the airport.

The recruitment effort included pooling together up to $450,000
from area businesses and government bodies. The governments of
Normal, Bloomington and McLean County each contributed $100,000
toward the effort.

The cash would be used only if an airline falls short of its
financial goals during its first year of operation, McLean County
Board Chairman Matt Sorensen told The Pantagraph last month.

Brad Vesper contributed to this report.