diff --git a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
index 8c7ef8e9aa..3c198d5895 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ use utils::{
 
 use crate::basebackup;
 use crate::config::{PageServerConf, ProfilingConfig};
+use crate::import_datadir::import_timeline_from_tar;
+use crate::layered_repository::LayeredRepository;
 use crate::pgdatadir_mapping::{DatadirTimeline, LsnForTimestamp};
 use crate::profiling::profpoint_start;
 use crate::reltag::RelTag;
@@ -39,6 +41,7 @@ use crate::tenant_mgr;
 use crate::thread_mgr;
 use crate::thread_mgr::ThreadKind;
 use crate::CheckpointConfig;
+use crate::timelines::create_timeline;
 use metrics::{register_histogram_vec, HistogramVec};
 use postgres_ffi::xlog_utils::to_pg_timestamp;
 
@@ -519,22 +522,26 @@ impl PageServerHandler {
     fn handle_import(
         &self,
         pgb: &mut PostgresBackend,
-        tenant: ZTenantId,
-        timeline: ZTimelineId,
+        tenant_id: ZTenantId,
+        timeline_id: ZTimelineId,
     ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
-        let _enter = info_span!("import", timeline = %timeline, tenant = %tenant).entered();
+        let _enter = info_span!("import", timeline = %timeline_id, tenant = %tenant_id).entered();
         // TODO cap the max number of import threads allowed
         // TODO check that timeline doesn't exist already
         // TODO thread_mgr::associate_with?
 
+        // Create empty timeline
+        let init_lsn = Lsn(0);
+        let repo = tenant_mgr::get_repository_for_tenant(tenant_id)?;
+        let timeline = repo.create_empty_timeline(timeline_id, init_lsn)?;
+        let repartition_distance = repo.get_checkpoint_distance();  // TODO
+        let mut datadir_timeline = DatadirTimeline::<LayeredRepository>::new(
+            timeline, repartition_distance);
+
+        // Import basebackup provided via CopyData
         pgb.write_message(&BeMessage::CopyInResponse)?;
-        let mut reader = CopyInReader::new(pgb);
-
-        // TODO instead of draining, pass into timeline importer
-        let mut buf = Vec::<u8>::new();
-        reader.read_to_end(&mut buf);
-        info!("Got {} bytes", buf.len());
-
+        let reader = CopyInReader::new(pgb);
+        import_timeline_from_tar(&mut datadir_timeline, reader, init_lsn)?;
         Ok(())
     }
 
diff --git a/test_runner/batch_others/test_import.py b/test_runner/batch_others/test_import.py
index ea829eb3e6..4e95ddf88e 100644
--- a/test_runner/batch_others/test_import.py
+++ b/test_runner/batch_others/test_import.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ def test_import(neon_env_builder,
     # Create a new repo, load the basebackup into it, and check that data is there
     with NeonEnvBuilder(destination_repo_dir, port_distributor, default_broker, mock_s3_server) as builder:
         env = builder.init_start()
+        env.neon_cli.create_tenant(UUID(tenant))
         env.neon_cli.raw_cli([
             "timeline",
             "import",
@@ -46,5 +47,5 @@ def test_import(neon_env_builder,
             "--node-name", node_name,
             "--tarfile", basebackup_tar_path,
         ])
-        # pg = env.postgres.create_start(node_name, tenant_id=UUID(tenant))
-        # assert pg.safe_psql('select count(*) from t') == [(300000, )]
+        pg = env.postgres.create_start(node_name, tenant_id=UUID(tenant))
+        assert pg.safe_psql('select count(*) from t') == [(300000, )]