Bangor got bigger Thursday, at least when it comes to air travel, with city officials celebrating the inauguration of direct flights to Manchester, N.H.

The two daily Pan Am flights will give Bangor International Airport access to more locations and low fare services through Southwest Airlines which it couldn’t get on its own. According to BIA officials, Bangor doesn’t have the population draw needed to attract Southwest. That airline looks to areas that can sustain 8,000 to 10,000 outgoing passengers daily, while Bangor, on a good day in summer would see only about 1,000 passengers departing, according to Assistant Airport Director Tony Caruso.

“The direct service to Manchester, as we all know, opens up greater opportunities, flight options to other destinations,” Caruso said at the inaugural ceremony at the airport’s domestic terminal.

Starting at $49.50 each way, the 40- to 50-minute flights were being touted as a faster, cheaper and more hassle-free alternative to driving to Manchester.

And airport officials say this is just the start, that flights could be added to Prince Edward Island and Quebec City as well as providing additional in-state connections to locations such as Presque Isle.

Wednesday also marked the return of Pan Am’s direct flights to Florida that had been on hiatus since Thanksgiving.

The daily flights operated by Pan Am’s affiliate Boston and Maine Airways run at 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. and use a 19-passenger Jetstream J-31 regional airliner. The schedule offers one-stop service to the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

More information on the airline’s schedule, fares and other destinations can be obtained at www.bmairways.com.