The U.S. and Cuban governments announced an agreement to restore commercial flights between their two countries Thursday, a landmark achievement on the first anniversary of the longtime foes' disclosure that they would normalize relations.
The arrangement, reached late Wednesday, will continue to allow charter flights, which have been the only way for people to fly directly from the U.S. to the island.
But that process is cumbersome, and now airlines can establish regularly scheduled service just as they do to most other destinations, according to the U.S. State Department and Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
U.S. law continues to bar Americans from traveling to the island purely as tourists, but they can do so if they fall under 12 special categories, including humanitarian, religious and educational trips, and "people-to-people" trips that encourage communication between U.S. and Cuban citizens.