New Delhi: Direct flights between India and China will restart at the end of this month after more than five years, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
IndiGo announced it will launch non-stop daily flights connecting Kolkata to Guangzhou, starting October 26. The budget airline also plans to introduce a direct service between Delhi and Guangzhou soon.
The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 forced the suspension of direct passenger flights between the two countries. Deadly clashes between the two armies in Galwan Valley, along the LAC near Ladakh border, in June 2020 worsened the situation and led to a sharp deterioration of bilateral ties.
Relations have shown signs of mending in recent months, especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to China for the first time in seven years to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who had a meeting, described the two countries as “development partners, not rivals,” and discussed ways to bolster trade and economic cooperation amid growing global tariff uncertainty.
