MINNEAPOLIS -- U.S. Bank is expected to sign a purchase agreement Friday to sell assets of Sun Country Airlines to an investor group.

The bank is the airline's only secured creditor.

In federal bankruptcy court, U.S. Bank filed a motion Thursday seeking an expedited hearing in the case that was brought against Sun Country by airplane-leasing firms owed more than $3 million.

The move is seen as a big leap ahead in Sun Country's efforts to begin extended operations again and avoid a drawn-out restructuring in bankruptcy court.

Sun Country resumed a limited flight schedule Thursday, with a promise to expand beyond the initial six cities in the near future. Getting the planes back into the air comes two months after the fledgling commercial carrier abruptly stopped operations when it ran out of money.

The airline billed itself as the "little guy" alternative to the much larger Northwest, which dominates air travel in the Twin Cities. Sun Country had been a successful charter carrier before elevating itself to commercial status.

The airline captured the imagination of the marketplace, but was wounded like other carriers in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and couldn't recover. In December, Sun Country ran out of money. About 900 employees lost their jobs.

A group called MN Airlines Inc. has stepped forward to secure certain assets and operate Sun Country as a scaled-down version as a charter airline.

Robert Daly, a retired attorney from Burnsville who was among the founding investors in Sun Country, heads the small group of investors seeking to buy the airline.