A long-sought goal of Central Oregon economic development and tourism officials was realized Thursday when United Airlines launched jet service between San Francisco and Redmond — a move that will trim about 50 minutes off the trip.

Area business and tourism officials have worked with United and SkyWest Airlines, which operates the flight for United, for about five years, trying to make the case jet service was viable, said Roger Lee, executive director of Economic Development for Central Oregon.

The two carriers on Thursday also teamed up on daily service to Denver, a first for the region, that will run through Oct. 24. Prior summer service was not daily. The flights add another vital east-west connection to Redmond, complementing service through Salt Lake City by Delta Air Lines, also flown by SkyWest. Travelers also can fly east via Portland and Seattle, but many consider the Denver option key for its substantial connections.

On the San Francisco flight, the 50-seat jets will virtually eliminate the problem of passengers getting bumped from the smaller propeller craft due to weight restrictions.

Don’t discount the importance of the jet service economically, either.

“The fact that we’ve got service to San Francisco is far and away number one as far as importance goes,” Lee said.

Central Oregon has a strong connection to the San Francisco Bay Area through business and leisure. Anything that improves the convenience and speed of travel between Central Oregon and the Bay Area — with its significant technology, innovation, knowledge and wealth base — is advantageous, Lee said.

This area, with a cheaper cost of living, is an attractive place for many of those people to live and locate businesses.

That’s evident in the many companies and individuals here who have current or past connections to the Bay Area.

Additionally, numerous visitors from California vacation here.

California is the largest out-of-state source of visitors for Bend, according to research conducted last summer for Visit Bend, the city’s tourism-promotion agency. The state accounted for 16.8 percent of all visitors to the city, research by RRC Associates of Boulder, Colo., showed. And the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose metropolitan area accounted for 7.1 percent of all visitors to Bend.

The flight will create vastly improved potential for Central Oregon when it comes to attracting leisure, group, corporate and incentive travelers, said Alana Audette, president and CEO of the Central Oregon Visitors Association. COVA is changing its Bay Area advertising to note the new service.

Customer demand justified allocating jet service to the route, said Marissa Snow, spokeswoman for SkyWest. “It’s a great opportunity for the community.”

Anybody who’s ever flown east from Central Oregon also can appreciate the Denver connection with the numerous flights offered there, many through United’s huge hub.

Weekly service in prior summers was extremely successful, Lee said, and he’s hopeful the seasonal daily flights eventually convert to year-round, perhaps in the next year or two.

“I think it’s inevitable it’s going to come,” he said.

United did not return a call for comment.

COVA’s goal is to help create enough demand for the service that it can become year-round, Audette said.

Air service, alone, won’t attract business or vacationers. The Central Oregon destination needs to remain attractive for companies, conventions and vacationers, but having improved access is an important ingredient.

Air service is that much more critical in Central Oregon because it’s not near a major interstate highway, Lee noted.

“It’s kind of like a new shipping route 200 years ago opening up,” he said. “That type of thing just generates commerce.”

It says something that Central Oregon is getting the new flights in a recession. Airlines don’t add them without serious number-crunching. It’s now up to Central Oregon to keep the numbers strong.