New Delhi, Oct 4: India will resume direct passenger flights to China this month after a five-year suspension, the government said on Thursday, with budget carrier IndiGo set to launch services from Kolkata to Guangzhou on Oct. 26.
The Ministry of External Affairs said the decision was taken under the winter aviation schedule beginning this month and would “further facilitate people-to-people contact … contributing towards the gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges.”
IndiGo announced daily flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou, with plans to add New Delhi connections subject to regulatory clearance. Tickets will go on sale from Friday.
Flag carrier Air India is also preparing to restart flights, with services to Shanghai expected before the end of the year, industry sources said.
Direct air links between the two countries were suspended in March 2020, when India halted all international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. While international services were gradually restored, flights to China remained off limits due to heightened border tensions following a deadly clash in the Galwan Valley that year.
The move marks the first step toward reopening a critical travel corridor for business and tourism. For more than five years, travellers have had to rely on connecting flights through hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore, raising costs and travel times.
Chinese carriers including Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Shandong Airlines are yet to secure approvals from New Delhi. Air China has applied to operate flights from Beijing to Delhi and later Mumbai, an industry veteran said.
Tourism operators hailed the resumption. “China is one of the world’s largest sources for outbound tourism and has a significant contribution to inbound tourism for India,” said Subhash Goyal, chairman of travel services firm STIC. “This is welcome, especially as India has yet to return to pre-COVID levels of inbound tourists.”
India restored tourist visas for Chinese nationals in July, another sign of easing in ties between the two Asian giants.
