New Delhi: After more than five years, direct passenger flights between India and China have officially resumed, marking a significant step toward normalising ties between the two neighbouring countries. On Sunday night, IndiGo’s flight 1703 departed from Kolkata at 9:53 p.m. for Guangzhou, re-establishing a direct air link that had been suspended since the onset of the pandemic. The journey took approximately three and a half hours.
The new service signals the first phase of a broader resumption of air connectivity between the two Asian powers. IndiGo will follow up with a New Delhi–Guangzhou route from November 10, while China Eastern Airlines plans to launch a Shanghai–Delhi service a day earlier, on November 9.
The decision to restart direct flights comes amid a gradual improvement in diplomatic engagement after years of strained relations. Air services between India and China were halted during the Covid-19 pandemic and had not resumed due to ongoing border tensions since 2020. The move was first hinted at during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in August Modi’s first visit to China in seven years.
Officials and aviation analysts see the resumption as a positive development for trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges. The restored connectivity will allow business travellers and tourists to move between the two countries without transiting through third-country hubs such as Singapore, Bangkok, or Hong Kong.
Air India is also preparing to restart its New Delhi–Shanghai operations in the coming months, though an official date has yet to be confirmed.
The return of direct India–China flights marks a cautious but meaningful step toward rebuilding normal travel and cooperation between the world’s two most populous nations.
