India and China resumed direct flights on Sunday after a five-year suspension, a move important both for trade and a symbolic step as Asia’s giants cautiously rebuild relations.
IndiGo flight 6E1703 from Kolkata touched down in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou just before 4am, officially resuming non-stop air links that had been suspended since 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent geopolitical tensions.
The neighbours – the world’s two most populous nations – remain strategic rivals competing for regional influence but ties have eased gradually since a deadly Himalayan border clash in 2020.
India’s government said the resumption of flights will boost “people-to-people contact” and aid the “gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges”.
Warming relations with Beijing come as India’s ties with key trade partner Washington falter, following US President Donald Trump’s order imposing punishing 50 per cent tariffs.
Trump’s aides have accused India of fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine by buying Moscow’s oil.
