CHENGDU -- A direct flight between Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province and Russian capital Moscow will be launched by Sichuan Airlines on May 2, it announced on Friday.

The first direct flight linking a southwest Chinese city and Russia will fly every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It will cut the travel time between the two cities to eight or nine hours.

Currently three direct flight services are available between Chengdu and Europe, including to Amsterdam, London and Frankfurt.