(ABC 6 News) – Right now, the only direct flights out of Rochester International Airport (RST) are to the Twin Cities and Chicago. There have been other direct flights in the past but none of them stuck around long-term. Now, thanks to some new funding from the Rochester City Council, the hope is that this time, the new flights will be here to stay.

Earlier this week, city council approved $1.5 million to help RST attract new direct flights.

Ward 6 Councilor Molly Dennis was not in the room for the vote, and she’s not sure she would’ve been on board.

“The fear of loss too. We don’t know if the airlines are going to be staying. I mean, this is something when we invest and be good stewards of tax dollars. We want to make sure that we know that it’s an investment. We don’t know the odds,” Dennis tells ABC 6.

The money will be put into an MRG Fund (Minimum Revenue Guarantee.) Basically, it reduces an airline’s financial risk when launching a new route by guaranteeing the airline is paid a set amount of money.

“We’re break even or less at this point. Of course, part of our goal is to stay off the levy as much as we can, looking to develop revenue sources moving forward,” John Reed, the Executive Director of the Rochester International Airport said at a council meeting Monday.

Richard Fielding lives in Chicago and has to come to Austin, Minnesota for work. For him, RST is all about convenience.

“There’s more flights into the Twin Cities so I mean, that’s a consideration. But I think this is way more convenient for Austin because it’s a half-hour drive versus 90 minutes.”

There’s also John Hunziker whose daughter lives in Houston. RST Prices might look higher, but that doesn’t mean MSP (Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport) is cheaper.

“We ended up having to take a shuttle up from here to the cities. Because we couldn’t get a connection from the cities to Houston until the next morning so you add in 100 and some dollars for a hotel. If you add a meal, the difference is gone,” Hunziker said.

Phoenix, Orlando, and Las Vegas are being looked at for potential routes. There have been direct flights to some of those locations in the past. Airport officials hope the money will help them stick around this time.

There is no word yet on when we could see new routes.