India and China have resumed direct flights after a five-year hiatus amid a gradual improvement in relations between the countries. The first passenger plane has arrived in China. This is reported by the BBC.
IndiGo flight 6E 1703 from Kolkata landed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Monday, October 27, carrying about 180 passengers. A senior Chinese consulate official, Qin Yong, said at the airport that it was a “very important day for India-China relations”.
China Eastern Airlines plans to launch a flight between Shanghai and Delhi next month. Flights will be operated three times a week from November 9, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in India said.
Air services between the two countries were suspended in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have not resumed since relations soured following clashes in a disputed Himalayan border region that killed at least 20 Indian soldiers.
However, relations between India and China have been gradually normalizing over the past two years. The two sides agreed to conduct joint border patrols in 2024. In a statement released in early October, the Indian government said the resumption of air services would “promote people-to-people contacts”; and will help “gradual normalization of bilateral relations”.
Recall that in January 2025, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs announced an agreement with China to resume direct flights between the countries after a break of almost five years.
