It was the new connection between families and friends that prompted several passengers to buy tickets and hop aboard the first commercial airplane from North Bend to San Francisco.

On Monday, 21 passengers boarded SkyWest Airlines’ Embraer 120 turboprop from Southwest Oregon Regional Airport on a 5:36 p.m. flight — the first to San Francisco from the airport in more than two decades.

Two South Coast sisters, Sandy Ambrosio, 63, of Florence and Debbie Guyette, 60, of Reedsport, leaped at the southbound option.

“We’re going for an adventure to Palm Springs,” Ambrosio said. “It’s our mom’s 89th birthday.”

The women said they had no plans for when they would return.

“We’re retired — single and retired,” Ambrosio said.

“It’ll be fun,” Guyette said, smiling.

Newport Beach, Calif., residents Les Edelberg and Mary Cardas, said it made their flight home from seeing family in the area a short and less expensive option.

“We used to go to Eugene or Crescent City. Now we can come here, which is great,” Edelberg said.

Cardas said the tickets cost a little more than $400 and were worth it.

“Particularly if you consider renting a car or buying gas,” she said.

The first passenger to go through the security check was Jan Jones, who lives in North Bend during the summer and in Austria the rest of the year.

“My husband grew up here, so we come back a couple months in the summer,” Jones said, while sitting in the passenger holding room before boarding the airplane.

Jones grew up in Newport Beach, Calif., and was going home to see her family, while her husband and children remained at his parents’ house.

Former Coos County Airport Commissioner Jon Barton said when he heard about the southbound flights, he ran out right away and bought tickets for him and his wife, Patty. The Hauser residents were planning to visit friends in San Francisco and return on July 10.

“It was a good excuse to get to San Francisco,” Patty said. “We haven’t been there in years.”

“This is just to enjoy the flight and get some pretty decent food,” Jon said.

Jon was born in Burlingame, Calif., near San Francisco. He said he has been an advocate for the airport during his years of serving as a commissioner with the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay, while on the Friends of New and Sustainable Industry board and on the airport district board of commissioners.

“I’ve been working about four years to get a southbound flight and when it was announced, I was the first to get two tickets,” he said.

At approximately 12:52 p.m., the first airplane from San Francisco arrived. It was filled to capacity, with 30 passengers.

Throughout the day several hundred people visited the airport’s new $20 million terminal, according to airport spokeswoman Susie Chang, with KemperLesnik, which handles the airport’s public relations.

“We’ve had a great reception from the community already,” Chang said.

Airport Executive Director Gary LeTellier led a presentation, along with Airport District commissioners Joe Benetti, Helen Brunell-Mineau and Chairman Mike Lehman, who cut the ribbon. Coos County Commissioner Nikki Whitty, South Coast Development Council Chairman Ron Opitz and Coos Bay Mayor Jeff McKeown also spoke, along with Hank Hickox, general manager of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.

“We enjoy a significant number of golfers from Southern California,” Hickox said. “The gateway through San Francisco is important. Returning people as well as new people — it just makes it that much easier to get here.”

Hickox was one of about 100 people who watched the first flight leave for San Francisco. Not all were flyers, including Etta Snodgrass, of Fairview, who was waiting for her daughter and grandchildren’s flight to take off for Portland, following SkyWest’s flight. She watched out the terminal window as their plane waited on the taxiway for the SkyWest plane to take off.

They were flying through to San Diego, but bought their tickets long ago through Horizon Air, prior to SkyWest’s announcement that it would begin offering southbound service, she said.

“In the future, we’ll use SkyWest,” Snodgrass said. “I’ll be using it in November when I fly to San Diego to visit them.

“Anything that will get me to my destination faster.”