BRANSON, Mo. -- Last year, Branson opened the nation's first privately built commercial airport. This year, the airport is attempting to start its own air service.

Branson AirExpress is scheduled to start flying May 17 to and from Des Moines; Terre Haute, Ind.; Shreveport, La.; Houston; and Austin on a three-month trial.

Branson AirExpress is a start-up public charter service operated by the same people who run Branson Airport. The goal is the same they had in building and operating an airport without taxpayers' money: to bring more leisure travelers and their vacation dollars to this Ozarks mecca of country music and family entertainment.

In doing so, the airport says, it's also offering a model for other cities to attract business by offering greater accessibility from the air.

"This is a pretty exciting development," says Jeff Bourk, executive director of Branson Airport and president of Branson AirExpress. "We are out there to bring people here."

Aviation consultant Joel Antolini, who has advised Branson Airport the past three years, says creating the airline is a self-help initiative to bring in visitors in tough economic times.