India and China resume direct flights as relations improve, ETTravelWorld

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Passengers on the first direct flight between India and China in five years landed on Monday, after the Asian giants lifted a long-term suspension of air travel as part of a cautious rebuilding of relations.

IndiGo flight 6E1703 from Kolkata touched down in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou shortly before 4:00 am (2000 GMT), officially resuming non-stop flights that had been suspended since 2020 due to the pandemic and subsequent geopolitical tensions.

The two neighbors and the world’s most populous countries remain strategic rivals vying for regional influence, but relations have gradually deteriorated since a deadly border clash in the Himalayas in 2020.

The Indian government said the resumption of flights will enhance “people-to-people contact” and help “gradually normalize bilateral exchanges.”

Passengers on the first flight, including many Indians seeking cross-border job opportunities, spoke to AFP at Guangzhou airport about the ease of resumed flights.

“It was a smooth, easy and lovely journey,” said Rashika Mentri, a 44-year-old interior designer from Kolkata.

“I could come again and again,” she said.

The improvement in relations with Beijing comes at a time when India’s relations with its main trading partner, Washington, are faltering, in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s order to impose punitive 50% tariffs.

Trump’s aides accused India of fueling Russia’s war in Ukraine by buying oil from Moscow.

There are already regular flights between India and Hong Kong, while additional services from the capital, New Delhi, to Shanghai and Guangzhou will begin in November.

Abhijit Mukherjee, the captain of the flight that arrived Monday in Guangzhou, told AFP that without the new non-stop flight, passengers would need to travel through other airports, such as Bangkok or Singapore.

“It adds up,” the 55-year-old pilot said of the transfers.

He added that the direct flight he had just completed was “very smooth,” holding a bouquet of flowers presented to him upon his arrival.

The eastern Indian port city of Kolkata has centuries-old ties with China dating back to British rule, when Chinese immigrants arrived as traders.

Indo-Chinese fusion food remains a beloved staple of the city’s culinary identity.

“It’s great news for people like us who have relatives in China,” said Chen Khui Kui, a civil society leader in Kolkata’s Tangra Chinatown area. “Air connectivity will boost trade, tourism and business travel.”

– ‘First step’ –

India suffers from a large trade deficit with Beijing, and relies heavily on Chinese raw materials for industrial growth and exports.

The improvement between New Delhi and Beijing followed meetings between their leaders in Russia last year and in China in August.

The resumption of direct flights is a “first step” in mending ties, said passenger Athar Ali, a 33-year-old Indian businessman, as he waited to check in for an IndiGo flight on Monday to return the plane to Kolkata.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the check-in desk, where a long queue formed for the first direct flight from mainland China to India since 2020.

Services were suspended non-stop between the two countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in the cessation of approximately 500 monthly services.

Relations then deteriorated after a 2020 border skirmish between the nuclear-armed countries, when at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed.

New Delhi responded by tightening restrictions on Chinese investments and banning hundreds of apps, including TikTok.

India then deepened its ties with the US-led Quad alliance — which also includes Japan and Australia — with the aim of countering China’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Both sides deploy troops along the disputed high-altitude border, which is 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) long.

But this month, soldiers on each side exchanged gifts of sweets at the Hindu festival of Diwali, “a sign of goodwill,” said Yu Jing, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in India.

The Indian Express, in an editorial after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting in August, said improving relations with Beijing “sends an appropriate signal” to Washington.

But relations still have a long way to go.

The newspaper added, “China’s increasingly assertive management remains the long-term challenge facing India.”

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