India–China Direct Flights Resume After Five-Year Suspension Amid Warming Diplomatic Ties

Direct air travel between India and China has officially resumed after a five-year pause, marking a major step toward restoring normal relations between the two Asian giants.

On Sunday night, IndiGo flight 6E 1703 took off from Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at 10pm, landing in Guangzhou, southern China, roughly three and a half hours later. It was the first direct flight between both countries since early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut borders and worsened tensions following a deadly military clash along the Himalayan frontier.

The resumption signals a thaw in diplomatic relations, as New Delhi and Beijing move to rebuild trust. Both nations agreed last year to withdraw troops from parts of their disputed border and have since reopened high-level diplomatic channels.

“Direct flights between China and India are now a reality,” wrote Yu Jing, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India, in a post on X.

China Eastern Airlines is expected to restart its Shanghai–Delhi route on November 9, while IndiGo plans to launch a new Delhi–Guangzhou service the following day.

Officials say the move will “facilitate people-to-people contact” and accelerate the “gradual normalization of bilateral exchanges” between the world’s two most populous nations.

According to airport director Pravat Ranjan Beuria, 176 passengers were on board the inaugural flight. Among them was businessman Krishna Goyal, who described the experience as “a very happy moment” after years of taking multiple connecting flights to reach China.

“Earlier, we had to change two or three flights just to get there,” he told Indian news agency ANI.

The route reconnects Kolkata’s manufacturing industries — including textiles and jute — with southern China’s booming wholesale markets, offering a vital trade link as both countries seek to strengthen economic cooperation despite global tensions.

Relations between India and China have shown steady improvement in recent months. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s August visit to Beijing — his first in seven years — and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s reciprocal trip to New Delhi underscored mutual efforts to rebuild trust.

Modi affirmed India’s commitment to advancing bilateral ties “on the basis of mutual trust and respect,” pointing to the easing of border tensions and expanding trade as signs of progress.