SOCHI, November 15 /TASS/. The first direct flights from China’s Chengdu to the Russian Black Sea town of Sochi will be launched in spring 2017, the press office for Sochi international airport’s owner, Basel Aero, said on Tuesday.

"The Sochi international airport plans to establish a direct air link with the Chinese town of Chengdu in the spring of 2017. Apart from that, the administrations of (Russia’s) Krasnodar territory, the Sochi municipal administration and representatives of the Basel Aero airports, are studying the possibility of launching direct flights to and from another six Chinese cities: Beijing, Zh·ngzh·u, Urumqi, Shanghai, Kunming, Shanghai and Guangzhou," the Basel Aero report said.

The company added that an agreement to initiate direct flights from Chengdu to Sochi had been struck as part of the "open sky" regime effective as of October 2014.

Foreign airlines can organize direct international flights to Sochi without restrictions. They can also make transit flights to third countries via Sochi where they can take new passengers onboard. The "open sky" regime will be in effect in Sochi until the 2018-2019 winter season.

Previous TASS reports said that a familiarization tour of Sochi would be organized for major Chinese travel operators and journalists during the Sochi International Forum for Tourism scheduled for November 22-26. Russian tourists and inhabitants of the nation’s southern regions will be able to use the Sochi airport to visit China after the opening of direct flights from Chengdu.