On 24 October 2026 a scheduled passenger air service opened between Harbin and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the first direct scheduled route from China to Russia's Kamchatka.
The Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Transport announced the opening on 24 October 2026. Russian carrier IrAero operates the route with a Sukhoi Superjet 100 once a week, on Saturdays, in both directions. The flight takes about 3.5 hours. In Beijing time, the outbound flight leaves Harbin at 03:05 and the return flight lands in Harbin at 11:50.
According to the Kamchatka Krai government, as reported by Russian media, the route resulted from agreements between Governor Vladimir Solodov and the Chinese side, and Kamchatka and Heilongjiang jointly subsidise it. A one-way ticket costs about 25,000 roubles. If demand is sufficient, the airline may consider increasing frequency to two flights a week.
In September 2026 Kamchatka Vice-Governor Oksana Gerasimova, speaking about demand for the route, said that about 90% of the region's foreign tourists come from China. Regional officials have also described air freight of perishable products and live crab as a longer-term goal that would require new infrastructure.
According to the Chinese side, Heilongjiang now operates nine passenger air routes to the Russian Far East and Yekaterinburg.