U.S., Cuba Announce Agreement to Resume Commercial Flights

Commercial flights between the United States and Cuba will be available very soon for the first time in 50 years now that the governments have reached an agreement.

According to the U.S. State Department and Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the deal, which was completed late Wednesday, will allow airlines to create scheduled services to Cuba like they have for several other destinations.

People, however, still cannot fly to Cuba purely as tourists. Only those who are going for reasons, such as humanitarian efforts, religious trips and educational purposes, will be allowed to fly on these commercial flights.

People who fly to Cuba will also be monitored by the U.S. Department of Commerce. All travelers must provide their visas, identification cards and payment information to the flight charter agents. They must prove that they are going to the island for at least one of the 12 U.S. approved categories.

U.S. State Department's deputy assistant secretary for transportation affairs, Thomas Engle, said that the deal would allow up 110 round-trip flights per day, which includes 20 flights arriving in Havana and 10 each in the country's nine other airports.

Charter flights, which were the only way that people could get into the island, will continue like usual. Charter flights typically involve a much longer process for airlines.

After the announcement on Thursday, U.S. airlines have praised the deal. JetBlue officials stated that now they can apply for new routes into Cuba. American Airlines tweeted their support via a picture of a plane with a Cuba flag captioned, " Countdown to Cuba."

"Interest in Cuba has reached levels not seen for a generation," Scott Laurence, with JetBlue, said in a statement reported by USA TODAY. "We will review the terms of the agreement to understand how JetBlue can expand from charter service to regularly scheduled service."

People who want to travel to Cuba would be able to buy the tickets online. Commercial flights will begin in 2016.

The agreement was made one year after both countries started to normalize their relations.

"We continue to have differences with the Cuban government, but we raise those issues directly, and we will always stand for human rights and the universal values that we support around the globe," President Barack Obama, who has been working with Cuban President Raul Castro, said in a written statement reported by Reuters. "Change does not happen overnight, and normalization will be a long journey."