Havana, Jun 2 (IANS): Cuba and the US have agreed to permanently restore the direct postal service between the two countries, which had been suspended for decades, an official said.

A statement on Friday from the state-run Correos de Cuba Business Group recalls that this measure is coming into force after the execution of a pilot program, approved by Washington and Havana in December 2015, Xinhua news agency reported.

The test began in March 2016 with a charter airline which offered three weekly trips, which was later reduced to two. However, this service ceased after a year without any plans at the time to make it permanent.

Correos de Cuba added that "the execution of the service in its current format began on April 16, 2018 and takes into account the technical, operational and security requirements identified by the parties during the execution of the pilot plan."

The restoration of this service allows the postal delivery of mail, parcels, and express courier deliveries on direct flights between Cuba and the United States, and through post offices in both countries.

The direct postal service between the two neighbouring nations was suspended by Havana in 1968 after the explosion of a bomb in a parcel coming from New York that killed five postal workers.

During 48 years, letters and parcels had to travel through other countries like Canada, Mexico, Panama and Jamaica.

This led to increased operational costs for the Cuban side and caused large delays to deliveries, leading to customer complaints.