Mascoutah • Even as a planeload of local business leaders get ready to fly to Beijing on Saturday for yet more talks about a Chinese cargo hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, an actual cargo flight from Shanghai touched down Thursday at the region's other airport.

MidAmerica St. Louis Airport said Thursday that it had landed a 'successful test flight" of cargo from Shanghai Pudong International, a service it hopes to establish on a regular basis by year's end.

The 87-ton load came on a chartered MD-11, owned by North Carolina-based Sky Lease Cargo, then put on trucks and sent to a variety of spots around the Midwest. It ran smoothly, said St. Clair County Chairman Mark Kern, and helps prove the case for the underused Mascoutah airport as a cargo facility. He didn't identify Thursday's cargo.

"Today was a real milestone for Mid-America," Kern said. "We're optimistic it's going to lead to bigger things in the near future."

Meanwhile, a delegation of St. Louis area executives and officials, led by Sens. Christopher "Kit" Bond and Claire McCaskill, are about to leave for a week in China, for talks on the region's other big Asian cargo project. They'll meet with Chinese airlines and aviation officials about launching flights to Lambert, and with business groups about goods to fly both ways. They, too, hope to have deals in place by year's end.

While MidAmerica and Illinois lawmakers were initially involved in the so-called Midwest China Hub project, they aren't anymore, and there have been occasional sparks of friction between the two. When asked about MidAmerica's flight Thursday, Hub Commission Chairman Mike Jones played down any competition.

"Congratulations to them," Jones said. "I don't know if these conflict, but we all have to do everything we can to move the region ahead. If they're successful and if their success is at the order of magnitude we're talking about, that would be good for the region."

It's unclear what happens next at MidAmerica.

Kern said the airport is in talks with Sky Lease and other cargo haulers about a permanent route. While a news release said regular service is "expected to begin" by year's end and that MidAmerica "will be building another warehouse" to host its cargo operations, Kern said nothing has been locked in.

"There are many options we can pursue," he said.

As for Lambert, Kern made clear that his effort started first, and hasn't received nearly as much attention, or federal money, as Lambert's. But, he said, Mid-America is the better choice.

"We'd like to work with our friends across the river, certainly, in any way we can," Kern said. "But we believe the fit for international cargo really lies at Mid-America Airport."