US military on Monday announced combat Air Forces units from multiple commands began flying again on the day after many stopped flying in April due to sequestration.

According to a statement from the Air Combat Command, the restored flying hour program represents 208 million dollars of the reprogramming allocation authorized by Congress. The money re-instates critical training and test operations for the Air Force for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends in September.

The Defense Department received authority from Congress to shift about 7.5 billion US dollars from lower priority accounts to more vital operations, after the sequestration, or mandatory budget cuts, went into force.

While the return to the skies means a return to training and development for pilots, navigators, flight crews, mission crews and maintainers, the leader of the Air Force cautioned that this is the beginning of the process, not the end.

"Since April we've been in a precipitous decline with regard to combat readiness," said Gen. Mike Hostage, commander of Air Combat Command. "Returning to flying is an important first step but what we have ahead of us is a measured climb to recovery."

Moreover, the restoration of flying hours only addresses the next two and half months of flying up until October 1, when next fiscal year begins.

"This decision gets us through the next several months but not the next several years," said Hostage. "While this paints a clearer picture for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2013, important questions remain about Fiscal Year 2014 and beyond. Budget uncertainty makes it difficult to determine whether we'll be able to sustain a fully combat-ready force."