Passengers arrived at the Havana airport where they were greeted by friends and relatives

MIAMI (CNN) -- In a short 45-minute hop, 203 passengers flew directly from Miami to Havana Wednesday morning. Hundreds of friends and relatives were on hand at Havana airport to greet the arrivals on the first direct flight from the United States to Cuba in more than two years.

The flight underscored a change in U.S. policy -- President Clinton had barred direct flights in 1996 after Cuba shot down two civilian planes, killing four people.

Waiting at Miami International Airport for the flight to depart, Madelyn Fernandez said she wants to bring to life the stories she tells her son Anthony.

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"We always talk to him about our childhood over there," Fernandez said. "I'm always constantly talking to him about Cuba."

Since Clinton banned direct flights, Cuban Americans had been forced to fly to a third country before landing in Havana, upping the 45-minute flight time to three hours and adding US$100 to the ticket price. The president reinstated the direct flights -- and okayed cash transfers to Cuban relatives and loosened restrictions on sales of medicines -- in March in response to Pope John Paul II's trip to Cuba.

The Treasury department granted permission to nine companies to resume the flights. Miami's Airline Brokers Co. Inc. (ABC Charters) made the first trip. American Airlines and seven other smaller companies were also approved.

The resumption has elicited mixed responses.

"The idea of a step-by-step approach is to better relations and open the door to people in Cuba, and maybe see some progress in civil society," said Cuba analyst Palm Falk.

"I think it's a mistake," said Francisco Hernandez of the Cuban American National Foundation. "This is a message to the Castro regime and the Castro regime doesn't deserve this message."

But Julio Sanchez said his return to Cuba isn't about politics -- it's about seeing his sister before she dies.

"It's about family," he said. "It's not a vacation or anything. It's about family ... it's not easy to get to Cuba like other normal countries."

Cuba requires Cuban Americans to have a visa, and the United States strictly limits spending under its trade embargo against the island nation. The flights do not represent open transport between the two countries: Cuban-Americans may legally travel to Cuba once a year for a family visit -- and a new computer system will allow Treasury officials to track those trips.

CNN Correspondent Pat Neal and Associated Press contributed to this report.