Bookings open as India and China to resume direct flights after 5 years

India and China will resume direct flights between their two countries this month after a five-year suspension, officials said, with bookings opening on Friday.

Direct flights between the world's two most populous countries were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and were not resumed as tensions grew between Beijing and New Delhi over border disputes.

Relations between the Asian rivals have since thawed and their leaders met last month for the first time in seven years.

Following technical discussions, "it has now been agreed that direct air services connecting designated points in India and China can resume by late October", an Indian government statement released on Thursday said.

"This agreement of the civil aviation authorities will further facilitate people-to-people contact between India and China, contributing towards the gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges," it said.

Indigo, India's largest commercial operator, said on Thursday it would start direct daily flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from October 26 and later expand operations to New Delhi.

The airline opened bookings on Friday and said the direct flights would "re-establish avenues for cross-border trade and strategic business partnerships and promote tourism between the two nations."

India and China announced in August that they would restart direct flights, advance talks on their disputed border and boost trade.

Relations between China and India plummeted in 2020 after their soldiers clashed along a disputed border in the Himalayan mountains.

Four Chinese soldiers and 20 Indian troops were killed in the worst violence between the two countries in decades.

In June, Beijing granted permission to Indian pilgrims wishing to trek to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a holy site for Hindus and Buddhists, for the first time since the 2020 clash.

Agence France-Presse