Havana, Cuba.-The US Secretary of State, John Kerry regards the direct flight by US airline JetBlue from Fort Lauderdale (Florida, US) to Santa Clara (central Cuba) as ”another step ahead”.

The flight was the first after the reopening of the commercial route between Cuba and the US, which had been interrupted for 55 years.

‘The first commercial flight to Cuba since 1961, a little more than a year after hoisting the national flag in the Embassy of the United States in Havana. Another step ahead’, wrote Kerry in his Twitter account.

The Airbus A-320 of JetBlue, identified as flight 387 arrived from Fort Lauderdale, landing on Cuban soil at 10:56 (local time) at the International Abel Santamaría Airport, located in the city of Santa Clara, approximately 320 kilometers east of the Cuban capital.

On the flight – which broke more than 50 years of distant relations – were the Ministry of Transport of the United States, Anthony Foxx, and the executive director of JetBlue, Robin Hayes.

The arrival of the first commercial airplane from the northern country is considered to be historical and constitutes a valuable contribution towards relations between Havana and Washington, a process initiated on December 17th, 2014.

On July 7th the US government authorized eight airlines to fly to Cuba according to a communique issued by the US Ministry of Transport.

The US authorized airlines are: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines.

The flights will depart for Havana from airports of Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Newark, New Jersey; New York, and Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, in Florida.

As a consequence of the political and criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade that Washington has imposed on Cuba for more than half a century, limitations exist to American citizens traveling freely to the island.