Passengers traveling between the United States and Mexico may soon benefit from additional flights, after the two countries signed a new air service agreement on Dec. 18.

The deal does away with the current limit on carriers that can serve U.S.-Mexico city pairs, which until now had been set at two, Travel Weekly said based on reports from a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson. The agreement, which still needs to be approved by the Mexican senate, will also liberalize air cargo service between the two countries.

"This landmark agreement with one of our largest aviation partners will significantly increase future trade and travel between the United States and Mexico," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx promised in a joint statement. "The new agreement will benefit U.S. and Mexican airlines, travelers, businesses, airports and localities by allowing increased market access for passenger and cargo airlines to fly between any city in Mexico and any city in the United States."

On the Mexican side, Transportation Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Esparza similarly approved of the deal, which has been hailed as the result of more than two years of negotiations that involved the U.S. Departments of State, Transportation and Commerce, along with Mexican authorities.

The agreement is expected to help promote economic growth in sectors like tourism and manufacturing, and facilitate the establishment of alliances between air carriers of each country, the industry publication Airport Technology predicted.

The U.S.-Mexico agreement comes on the heels of a deal recently reached by Washington and Havana that is expected to normalize air travel between the United States and Cuba.

Regularly scheduled flights to the Caribbean nation had long been prevented by the U.S. embargo against the Communist regime, but travel options are now within reach due to the normalization of relations between the two neighbors.