DUSHANBE -- A regular air service has opened to connect Dushanbe with Tehran, the new air route was opened by the Iranian company Orien, whose plane brought 60 passengers to Dushanbe Airport on Friday.

An agreement on creating a new air service was reached during a visit to Tehran by a government delegation of Tajikistan in July, ITAR-TASS was told at the Tajik Transport Ministry.

At first, a regular flight from Tehran to Dushanbe will be performed by a Tupolev-154 passenger plane once a week, the air ticket costs $114, said IRNA.

In the future, Iran is expected to broaden the flight schedule to Dushanbe, the Transport Ministry said.

At present, Tajikistan has "air bridges" connecting it to five Russian cities -- Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Novosibirsk -- and also to Turkey and Munich.