India and China will resume direct flight services later this month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday. Flight services between the two countries were suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were not restored amid the eastern Ladakh border tensions. The MEA said direct air services connecting designated points in India and China can resume by late October, subject to the commercial decisions of the designated carriers and fulfillment of all operational requirements. Earlier this year, civil aviation authorities from both countries held technical-level discussions on resuming direct flights and revising the air services agreement, the statement added. IndiGo resumes Kolkata-Guangzhou flights IndiGo announced on Thursday that it will restart flights from Kolkata to Guangzhou, China, beginning October 26. The airline will operate daily, non-stop services connecting the two cities. Pending regulatory approvals, IndiGo also plans to launch direct flights between Delhi and Guangzhou in the near future. 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. Later, both sides agreed to resume direct flight connectivity between Chinese mainland and India at the 'earliest' during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi in August. 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. All of it is being catered to by airlines from regions like Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. To be sure, the Hong Kong airport is not exactly considered a Chinese airport due to Hong Kong’s special autonomous status and a different visa regime than mainland China. It continues to be the leading connecting hub between India and mainland China.
