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Regular flights to resume between U.S. and Cuba: State Department

That implies Americans will soon have the capacity to bounce on the web, click a couple catches and make a beeline for Havana.

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The deal was announced yesterday, exactly one year after President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro announced to ease the strained relations between both countries.

Other official sources, cited on condition of anonymity by CNN and The Washington Post, said the accord concerns technical elements and it will take several months before USA airlines can begin to sell tickets for flights to Cuba. That incorporates 20 flights a day between the US furthermore, Cuba’s capital city of Havana, and 10 a day between the USA also, nine universal airplane terminals spread over the island.

On Thursday they reached a deal on re-establishing scheduled commercial airline flights between the two countries.

In a rare broadcast of his speech on state television, the 84-year-old leader said, “Cuba will continue insisting that to achieve the normalization of relations it is imperative that the government of the United States remove all policies of the past”.

For their part, opponents of renewed relations say the Cuban government’s continued disregard for human rights and political freedoms is the strongest argument against closer ties – and proof that no amount of concessions will prompt the Castro regime to change.

Although the agreement will eventually make it easier to travel back and forth between the countries, the US ban on general tourism to the Caribbean island remains in force. Cuba and the United States restored diplomatic ties in July and have reached agreements on restarting direct mail service and environmental protection.

“This is as much a political document as it is a transportation document”, he said.

This does not mean American tourists can now start flocking to communist-run Cuba to lie on beaches, sip rum and fire up cigars. In a phone interview, Scott Laurence, the senior vice president for airline planning, said that the company is excited about the possibility of servicing Cuba for commercial flights and will likely apply for routes from Orlando International Airport, Tampa International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and JFK International Airport.

American Airlines said it hopes to start flying scheduled services by the end of June and will continue operating existing charter flights until then.

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Obama’s decision to relax travel restrictions to Cuba earlier this year has led to a boom in USA citizens’ visits to Cuba, which are up 71 percent this year, with 138,120 Americans arriving through November.

Australian travellers wanting to visit Old Havana will find it a lot easier now that Washington has reinstated direct flights from the mainland to the Caribbean island