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Direct India–China Flights Back From Late October

  • By Thetripurapost Desk, New Delhi
  • Oct 02, 2025
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India announced on Thursday that direct air services with China will resume by the end of October, marking the first such flights since 2020. The move is being seen as a step towards normalisation of strained ties between New Delhi and Beijing.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said civil aviation authorities of both countries had been holding technical-level discussions since early 2025 on restarting services and revising the bilateral Air Services Agreement.

“Following these discussions, it has now been agreed that direct air services connecting designated points in India and China can resume by late October 2025, in keeping with the winter season schedule, subject to the commercial decisions of designated carriers from the two countries and fulfilment of all operational criteria," the MEA said in a statement.

The ministry added that restoring flights would “further facilitate people-to-people contact between India and China, contributing towards the gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges."

The announcement comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, where both leaders discussed measures to stabilise relations.

Flights between India and China were suspended in early 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and never resumed, even after restrictions were lifted. Relations worsened following the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, which pushed bilateral ties to their lowest point in decades.

In recent months, however, signals of a thaw have emerged: India resumed issuing visas to Chinese nationals last month, while China reopened access for Indian pilgrims undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

IndiGo First to Take Off

Private carrier IndiGo will be the first airline to restart services. It announced daily non-stop flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou (CAN) from October 26, 2025, operated with Airbus A320neo aircraft. The airline also plans to launch direct Delhi–Guangzhou flights soon.

Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo, said, “We are proud to be amongst the first to resume direct connectivity to China from two points in India. This will once again allow seamless movement of people, goods, and ideas, while also strengthening bilateral ties between two of the world’s most populous countries and fast-growing economies.”

Meanwhile, Air India is also preparing to relaunch services, with flights between Delhi and Shanghai expected by the year-end.