India and China resume direct flights after five years of suspension
- On Thursday , India’s Ministry of External Affairs said direct air services with China can resume by late October 2025, and IndiGo will operate daily Kolkata–Guangzhou flights starting October 26, 2025.
- Following disengagement along the LAC in late 2024, the MEA said civil aviation authorities held technical talks earlier this year to resume flights and revise the Air Services Agreement.
- The airline added that it will operate the Kolkata–Guangzhou route on Airbus A320neo aircraft, with tickets going on sale October 3, 2025.
- The resumption will ease travel for businesspeople, students and families, ending reliance on longer, costlier routes through third‑country hubs and boosting people‑to‑people contact and bilateral exchanges.
- After last month’s visit by Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister, officials say Air India expects to resume Delhi–Shanghai flights this year, pending regulatory approvals and slot allocations.
New Delhi announced Thursday evening the resumption of direct flights between China and India from the end of October, more than five years after they were suspended due to the global Covid-19 pandemic and diplomatic tensions.
“This agreement between the civil aviation authorities will further facilitate people-to-people contacts between India and China, contributing to the gradual normalization of bilateral trade ,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. This decision comes amid easing tensions between the two neighbors.
Earlier this year, following a visit to Beijing by a senior Indian diplomat, Vikram Misri, the two countries reached an agreement ” in principle on the resumption of direct air links . ” “Following these discussions, it was agreed that direct air links between designated points in India and China could resume by the end of October 2025 ,” the Indian ministry said.
Shared border
Vikram Misri’s visit to Beijing was the most important to China by an Indian diplomat since the serious deterioration of relations between the two neighbors following a violent clash in 2020 in a border area of the Himalayas, which claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese military personnel.
The two Asian giants share a 3,500-kilometer border that remains a potential source of tension, with sporadic clashes. Beijing and New Delhi regularly accuse each other of attempting to seize territory along their high-altitude demarcation line.
