India and China have decided to restart direct air services by the end of the this month after protracted negotiations between the civil aviation authorities. India today announced the agreement which is a great news considering the recent ice-breaker meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.
The ministry claimed in its statement that technical-level discussions between aviation officials on either side had been ongoing since earlier this year.
The talks concerned re-establishing direct connectivity and completion of a new Air Services Agreement.
Based on the new arrangement, specific carriers in India and China will be allowed to make direct flights between approved destinations, with the starting point of the winter season, as long as all the operational and commercial conditions are satisfied.
After the diplomatic move, IndiGo declared it will resume its flights to Mainland China and will be flying between Kolkata and Guangzhou with non-scheduled and daily flights beginning 26 October 2025.
Also soon, with regulatory approvals, IndiGo will start direct flights between Delhi and Guangzhou.
IndiGo pledged to operate these flights with its Airbus A320 neo airliners that will restore cross-border trade avenues and business ties and facilitate tourism between the two countries.
The decision will jumpstart person-to-person interactions, which were cut short drastically by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and tensions on the India-China border. The authorities stressed that the recovery of air connections would help to bring bilateral interactions back to normal gradually.
The two neighbouring Asian countries had not had direct flights in over four years and this interfered with business, tourism and academic interactions.
The announcement is the positive yet tentative sign of the improvement of relations, which were tense despite the existing contact between diplomats.
The most recent addition is against the background of the US-India trade talks and the introduction of 50 per cent tariffs on India by President Donald Trump.
This reopening of flights follows broader government attempts to normalise the relationship and gradual measures are being taken in an attempt to restore confidence and collaboration.
The analysts perceive the development as a pragmatic step that can facilitate the way to more intense economic and cultural communication.
India and China to resume direct flights after five-year freeze
The civil aviation ministry announced on social media that the restart of air services will significantly improve air connectivity, promote people-to-people interactions and help strengthen economic cooperation between India and China.
Indian carrier IndiGo and China Eastern are likely to be the first two airlines to resume direct flight between the two countries, said people familiar with the matter, on the condition of anonymity. The Chinese side in the recent negotiations cited direct flights as one of the key demands, and Beijing pointed out that it is required to accelerate economic relations, the people said.
IndiGo in a statement indicated that it intended to run daily flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou starting October 26, and this would restore aviation-based connections between the world second and fourth largest economies. Shortly, IndiGo will also roll out direct flights between Delhi and Guangzhou, as long as regulatory approvals are obtained, it said.
These flights will be carried out by the Airbus A320neo airplane. IndiGo previously flew straight to China when Covid-19 was not in place and, therefore, already has many of the required arrangements and processes, the airline added.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers commented: We are delighted to be one of the first to restore direct connectivity between two locations in India and China. This will once again enable ease of movement of people, goods and ideas besides enhancing bilateral relationships between two of the most populous nations in the world and the rapidly expanding economies.
Flight operations to China were halted in the Covid-19 pandemic and this was still maintained when border tensions between Indian and Chinese forces in April-May 2020 reduced bilateral relations to a six-decade low. The two sides had positioned nearly 50,000 soldiers each in the Ladakh segment of LAC when an agreement was achieved last October on disengagement of forces at the two remaining “afflictions” of Demchok and Depsang.
Earlier Air India, Indigo, Air China, China Southern and China eastern flights were direct flights.
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