India and China to Resume Direct Flights After Five-Year Suspension
By Zou Xiaotong and Ding Yi
India and China will restart direct passenger flights by the end of October, ending a more than five-year hiatus, New Delhi said, as the two countries seek to rebuild ties amid mounting global trade uncertainties.
The services will run between certain cities and be in line with the winter season schedule, subject to the “commercial decision of the designated carriers from the two countries,” according to an announcement by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Thursday.
Shortly after the announcement, India’s largest carrier IndiGo said that it will restart daily non-stop flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou starting Oct. 26. The airline also plans to launch a route from Delhi to the Chinese city “shortly,” pending regulatory approvals.
Chinese carriers including Air China Ltd., China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd., China Southern Airlines Co. Ltd. and Shandong Airlines Co. Ltd. have also approached New Delhi Airport to resume direct flights, Indian local media reported.
Direct passenger flights between the two countries were suspended in early 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A deadly border clash in the Himalayas that summer soured diplomatic relations and ensured the suspension remained in place. Currently, travelers between the two countries must take indirect routes via hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore.
In Thursday’s announcement, the MEA described the resumption of direct air services as part of the New Delhi’s approach “towards gradual normalization of relations between India and China,” which it began earlier this year.
The icebreaking came to a head in August with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China, his first in seven years, to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. During the meeting, Modi and President Xi Jinping agreed that the two nations were partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to strengthen trade ties amid rising global economic and trade uncertainties.
In July, India began issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals again for the first time in five years. China’s foreign ministry called the development a “positive move” and said Beijing was willing work with New Delhi to improve the “facilitation of people-to-people exchanges.”
Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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