MARATHON, Florida Keys - Gulfstream International is set to inaugurate twice-daily, round-trip airline service from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Tampa, Fla., to Florida Keys Marathon Airport beginning in early November 2006, Keys officials announced Wednesday.

The airport, located in the Middle Keys, has been without a commercial air carrier for more than five years, according to Peter Horton, director of airports for Monroe County.

The consummation of a one-year contract with Gulfstream comes after a major effort by local officials and community members to secure a carrier for the facility. Under the agreement, local officials are guaranteeing the airline a $300,000 revenue stipend to be financed by a U.S. Department of Transportation Small Community Air Service Development Grant as well as contributions from Keys residents and businesses.

"This has been a true community effort," said Monroe County Commissioner David Rice, who chaired the Florida Keys Marathon Airport Task Force, a public/private group that has spearheaded the effort in cooperation with aviation consultants The Boyd Group. "This is not only obviously important from a tourism standpoint, but also as a convenience factor for Keys residents," Rice said.

Key West International Airport features a full schedule of daily flights, but Florida Keys Marathon Airport is geographically more convenient for both visitors and residents in the Middle Keys and Upper Keys.

The agreement also calls for marketing support from the Keys tourist development council, according to its director, Harold Wheeler.

"We're looking forward to working with Gulfstream to help build awareness of the availability of commercial air service into a second Keys airport," Wheeler said.

Gulfstream has code-share agreements with Continental Airlines, United Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Copa Airlines, a carrier that serves Central and South America. Gulfstream is to use 19-passenger, turboprop Beechcraft 1900D aircraft for the Marathon flights.

Horton said that task force and county officials also were in serious discussions with Delta Airlines.

Available subsidy funds from the grant total $750,000 with an additional $300,000 in commitments from local residents and businesses, said Horton. The Marathon airport is slated to receive a $4 million facelift, with most of the project scheduled to be complete by Nov. 1, Horton added.