There have been no direct flights between China and India since 2020, even though China is India’s biggest bilateral trade partner.
India’s largest carrier IndiGo said it would begin daily non-stop flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou on October 26. It also plans to launch a route connecting New Delhi with the Chinese city.
Resumption of direct flights and normalisation of visa issuances — demands China has been making over the past couple of years — had come up in Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s discussions with Beijing during his China visit in January. At the time, the two countries had agreed “in principle” to resume direct flights. In the preceding months, the matter featured in talks between foreign and aviation ministers of the two countries.
Lack of direct air connectivity between India and mainland China, along with stringent visa restrictions, led to airlines from both countries losing out on potential passenger loads, and airlines operating from other Southeast Asian countries cashing in on the opportunity. Passenger traffic between India and China — currently solely through connecting hubs in South and Southeast Asia — is less than half of what it was in 2019.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China a month ago for the first time in seven years to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional security bloc.
Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that India and China were development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to strengthen trade ties amid global tariff uncertainty.
Modi also conveyed India’s commitment to improving ties and raised concerns about its widening trade deficit with China, which stands at nearly $99.2bn.
He emphasised the importance of maintaining peace and stability along their disputed border, where a clash in 2020 triggered a five-year military standoff.
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