India and China resume direct flights after 5 years

Direct flights between India and China have resumed as relations between the countries appear to be thawing.

IndiGo flight 6E 1703 from Kolkata landed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Monday, carrying around 180 passengers.

Flights between the two countries were first suspended during the Covid pandemic in early 2020 and have not been restarted since deadly clash in disputed Himalayan border area escalated tension.

But the two countries are steadily restoring their relations, and last year they achieved landmark agreement on border patrols.

The Indian government said the resumption of direct flights would “facilitate people-to-people contacts” and help “gradual normalization of bilateral exchanges” in statement announcing the development earlier this month.

This is part of a series of events that indicate a gradual normalization of relations between the neighbors.

In August, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China for the first time in seven years, meeting with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Earlier that month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India and discussed “de-escalation, delimitation and border issues” with officials in Delhi.

In July, India also resumed issuing visas for Chinese tourists.

According to travel data provider OAG, the two sides have been working around the clock 2588 regular fields in 2019 before services are discontinued.

At the Kolkata airport on Sunday evening, airline staff lit brass oil lamps to mark the resumption of direct flights as IndiGo passengers checked in.

A senior official at the Chinese consulate, Chin Yong, told reporters at the airport that it was “a very important day for India-China relations”.

Passengers expressed happiness that the time taken to reach China will now decrease.

Krishna Goyal, who said he was traveling to China on business, told news agency ANI that the direct flights would boost trade and relations between the countries.

“Earlier we had to change two or three flights (to reach China). We used to go to Singapore from Kolkata and from there to China,” he said.

China Eastern Airlines will launch a flight connecting Shanghai and Delhi next month. It will fly three times a week from November 9, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India told X.

Additional reporting by Neyaz Farooquee in Delhi