Iowans soon can fly directly to San Francisco from the Des Moines International Airport, thanks to a new route opened up by Frontier Airlines.

The airline and airport officials celebrated the announcement of the flight at the airport Tuesday morning. The seasonal flight will begin operation June 5, Frontier said in a news release.

Frontier's expansion provides the Capital City with a second, albeit a seasonal option, for a direct flight to the West Coast: Allegiant Air already offers seasonal nonstop service to Los Angeles International Airport.

Frontier will operate an Airbus A320 between Des Moines and San Francisco on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Des Moines departures are scheduled to leave at 8:58 p.m. and arrive in San Francisco at 10:49 p.m. Going the opposite direction, flights will leave San Fransisco at 6:30 a.m. and arrive in Des Moines at 11:55 a.m.

The airline is celebrating the announcement with promotional fares as low as $59 available at flyfrontier.com.

“We are pleased to continue to expand our service from Des Moines with more affordable flights and access to five destinations,” Seth Neuschwander, the airline's director of network planning and analysis said in a news release. “The new flights further support our mission to deliver low fares nationwide and we look forward to delivering on our commitment to Low Fares Done Right for the Des Moines community.”

Central Iowa entrepreneurs have long clamored for a direct flight to Silicon Valley.

"This is something the community’s asked for, so it’s great to see the airport authority to go out and get it," said Geoff Wood, the founder of Gravitate, a workplace community for entrepreneurs, freelancers and remote workers in downtown Des Moines. "I know they don’t get to make the decision directly, the airlines do, but I'm sure they helped."

Wood said many remote workers in Des Moines report back to headquarters in the San Francisco Area. Without a direct flight, time zones and connections made travel days long, he said.

"It was really hard before to get there," he said. "You couldn’t get there and back in a day."

But more importantly, Wood says direct service allows Silicon Valley talent and venture capital to easily access central Iowa: "The harder it is to get here, the less likely they're going to bother looking at companies they have a potential to invest in here.

In addition to adding the Silicon Valley flight, Frontier on Tuesday announced it would extend its seasonal Orlando, Florida, flight, which flies Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Those flights will now be offered year-round.

"We are excited that Frontier Airlines is expanding its service in Des Moines to include San Francisco and year-round flights to Orlando," Kevin Foley, executive director of the airport said in a news release. "San Francisco is a growing destination from Des Moines and this new nonstop service will provide greater travel choices for passengers flying to or from Des Moines."

Frontier's addition of service here comes amid a time of huge route expansions for the company. In July, it announced 21 new destinations and 85 new routes.

The Denver-based carrier now offers five non-stop destinations from Des Moines, including direct flights to its home base at Denver International Airport.

In July 2016, the carrier announced a three-times-a-week seasonal flight to Orlando. The next month, Frontier announced a seasonal Phoenix route. Earlier this year, the airline announced nonstop flights to Las Vegas from Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

Budget-minded Frontier now offers as many destinations from Des Moines as the legacy carriers that fly into the Capital City. Allegiant Air, already offers more destinations from Des Moines than the mainline carriers.

Still, statistic shows most airport traffic comes through American, Delta and United, which all offer multiple daily flights from Des Moines.

From Des Moines, American Airlines connects to five cities: Phoenix; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago.

Delta Airlines also flies to five cities: Atlanta; Detroit; New York; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; and Salt Lake City.

And United Airlines offers nonstop service to four major hubs: Denver; Newark, New Jersey; Houston; and Chicago.