And Cuba will establish scheduled flights

The U.S. has expressed disappointment with what it calls Cuba’s unwillingness to cooperate with executive actions such as allowing U.S. exports to the Cuban private sector and sales of equipment to the Cuban state telecommunications company.

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A year after announcing the process of restoration of diplomatic relations between The United States of America and Cuba, the two governments came to an agreement on Thursday to restore commercial flights between the two countries. However, the move does not lift the USA ban on general tourism to the Caribbean island.

He says the deal doesn’t foresee flights to the U.S.by Cuban’s national airline.

The president and supporters of the policy shift argue that more than 50 years of isolation failed to improve the lives of Cuban people. For decades, Washington’s policy was to isolate the island.

There will likely be a process that could last up to 90 days during which American-based carriers will submit proposed routes, suggesting scheduled flights would not begin until the first few months of 2016 at the earliest.

In a statement, Obama said “important steps” had been taken to mend ties, including re-establishing diplomatic relations and opening embassies.

It said a stronger USA civil aviation relationship with Cuba is a “critical component” of Obama’s effort to normalize relations between the two countries, which have already reopened embassies in Havana and Washington. Ties between Cuba and the United States have been extremely strained for the better part of the last fifty years.

Ariel Pereda, a Miami businessman, said he used his card last week to pay for his bill at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana-the first successful use of one of the debit cards.

There will be some delay until travelers can book commercial flights to Cuba. And U.S. businesses eager to launch projects in Cuba say federal regulators are meeting many requests for licenses with confusion or silence.

It could mean more than a dozen flights arriving into Cuba from the US a day, officials said.

CNN reported, however, that despite the agreement on restoring commercial flights, there has been no word on when the said flights will actually resume, as the Federal Aviation Administration still has to ensure that safety regulations are in place. “Interest in Cuba has reached levels not seen for a generation”, said Scott Laurence, senior vice president airline planning, JetBlue.

While limited charter airline service operations between the two countries have helped to defrost relations, this new agreement – once formalised – is expected to have a major impact on Cuba’s tourism revenues, which now stand at just over $2.5bn a year, according to estimates.