Air-connectivity: No ticket to fly between India and China

Indeed, at first sight, the air linkages between the two Asian giants appear woefully inadequate. Air India currently operates a mere two weekly flights from Shanghai to Delhi and then on to Mumbai, via Bangkok. In turn, China Eastern has started four new flights connecting Beijing to Mumbai, also via Shanghai.

The only direct, non-stop flight currently available from Beijing to New Delhi is somewhat bizarrely on Ethiopian Airlines and there are no direct flights at all from either the Chinese capital or Shanghai to Mumbai.

One might be forgiven for thinking that the new civil aviation agreement will soon change this sorry state of affairs. Under the agreement, designated airlines from each side will be allowed to operate 14 flights per week by the summer of 2005. The number of permitted flights will next zoom up to 28 each by the winter of this year and 42 flights by the summer of next year. The number of cities in each country that airlines are allowed to fly to has also been increased from the present two to six.

There is, however, a considerable hole in this rosy picture. Passenger traffic between the countries remains so little that it is a struggle for airlines to ensure that even the few existing flights are economically viable.

When they first began operating, China Eastern’s flights to India were direct from Beijing to New Delhi and back, with no stopover in Shanghai. As a regular passenger on that flight, your correspondent spent several comfortable journeys stretched out across four seats. The flight was always less than half full.

Since then, the airline stopped the non-stop connection and now picks up passengers in Shanghai. The majority of those who join the flight at Shanghai are passengers connecting to Delhi from the West coast of the US and Vancouver.

The reason for A-I’s circuitous route to China, via Bangkok, is similar. ‘‘It’s simply not economically viable to have direct flights,’’ say Vineet Gupte, the head of A-I’s China office. ‘‘Given current levels of passenger flow, it’s impossible to fill up flights round the year.’’

According to Gupte, the recently started China Eastern flights to Mumbai were in fact scheduled to begin operating earlier in the year but had to be postponed due to lack of ticket sales.

A-I is contemplating two new flights per week on its existing route from Shanghai to Mumbai, via Bangkok and New Delhi but no date has been set so far. By the end of the year, when the civil aviation deal will allow for 28 new flights, Gupte reveals, A-I might start three or four flights to Beijing. And there are no plans for the airline to look beyond Beijing and Shanghai as flight destinations at the moment.

The reality is that in all of 2004, only 24,000 visas were issued to Chinese nationals for travel to India, although more than 20 million Chinese travelled abroad in total during the same period. According to Gupte, the number of passengers ticketed in China for A-I flights between China and India in the year ending March 2005 was a paltry 3,500, with another 2,500 or so ticketed in India.

The figures for the number of Indians traveling to China are comparatively healthy. According to the China National Tourism Administration, in 2004, China had 3.9 lakh visitors from India, up 44 per cent from 2003, the largest increase of visitors to the mainland from any country.

A significant percentage of these are business travelers who choose to fly with a third airline and go through Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok.

Clearly, without a sustained effort in promoting tourism, the Himalayas will continue to be a barrier to travel across the border.