Dubuque area leaders and government officials celebrated the first flight to Dubuque Regional Airport after two years of work to return daily, commercial air service to the area. The airport lost commercial air service in 2022 when American Airlines ended its daily flights to Chicago. But a group of area business leaders engaged local, state and federal elected officials in a joint effort to secure daily service. On Monday, many of those leaders celebrated the first daily flight from Chicago O’Hare International Airport via Denver Air Connection, while several were aboard the inaugural flight.