TUPELO – Eight cities across the country, including Tupelo, will have to wait a little longer to find out which airline will be providing service from their airports.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday that it had extended its “service obligation” for Mesaba Airlines, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, to continue at least through Dec. 14.

Mesaba, which provides service to the cities, announced in July it was seeking federally subsidies in order to continue flying. Mesaba hopes to get funds through the Essential Air Service program.

Mesaba said it was no longer profitable to fly out of the cities without a subsidy. The Transportation Department, by law, ordered Mesaba to continue service at least through Nov. 12.

Meanwhile, the department has sought bids from airlines that are interested in providing service, with or without a subsidy. Mesaba has said it would submit bids.

“We have received proposals and have solicited community views and will be issuing a final carrier-selection soon,” said the Transportation Department in a release.

Mesaba now provides daily two flights from Tupelo – one to Memphis and the other to Atlanta. Tupelo Regional Airport officials, city and county leaders and an airline industry expert have said that at least three daily flights from Tupelo are needed in order to boost traffic.

Three years ago, Tupelo Regional had a record 31,334 boardings, with two airlines providing at least four flights a day. ASA/Delta pulled out in January 2008 and boardings dropped to fewer than 16,000.

While some of that decline is due to the recession’s impact on the airline industry, airport officials also say inconsistencies in flight schedules and reliability have hampered their efforts to boost traffic at Tupelo Regional.