Yekaterinburg and Chinese Urumqi will be connected by direct flight

Direct flights will be opened between Yekaterinburg and the Chinese city of Urumqi. Planes will start flying in this direction on July 1. The flights will be operated by the Russian airline Red Wings.

According to Kristina Aksenova, director of the airline's branch in Yekaterinburg, quoted by the news agency " <url>", this is a unique air refueling, where this airline is the only carrier from this region.

Flights are organized from Koltsovo International Airport twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays. Russian SSJ-100 short-haul airliners will operate on this route.

It takes 4 hours to get from Yekaterinburg to the Chinese metropolis, which is comparable in duration to a flight from the capital of the Sverdlovsk region to Sochi.

The agency notes that Urumqi is a key economic and transport hub in western China along the historic Silk Road.

Earlier it was reported that China extended the visa-free regime for Russian tourists until the end of 2027. They can stay in the country for up to 30 days.