India-China Flights Resume After 5-Year Hiatus, First Plane to Depart Tonight at 10 PM

After a five-year gap, direct flights between India and China are finally resuming today. The move has been welcomed as a positive step to strengthen people-to-people exchanges between the two nations. The very first flight is scheduled to take off at 10 PM tonight.

Flight Schedules and Routes

The first resuming flight will be operated by IndiGo, connecting Kolkata to Guangzhou on October 26. Flights between Shanghai and New Delhi are set to restart from November 9, while IndiGo's Delhi-Guangzhou route will commence on November 10.

India had officially announced on October 2 that direct flights to China would resume from October 26. Highlighting the development, Yu Jing, Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in India, shared on X:"Direct flights between China and India are now a reality. Kolkata → Guangzhou launches today. Shanghai ↔ New Delhi starts Nov 9, flying 3 times a week."

Why Flights Were Suspended

Air services between India and China had been halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They remained suspended not only because of the pandemic but also due to the prolonged border standoff in eastern Ladakh, which lasted over four years.

Diplomatic Developments Paving the Way

The resumption comes after an ice-breaking meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. Following this, India's Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that direct flight services would restart.

Speaking at a media briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated, "China is willing to work with India to view and handle China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and promote the continued healthy and stable development of bilateral relations."