China and India resumed direct commercial flights on Sunday for the first time in five years, marking a cautious step toward rebuilding ties strained by the 2020 border clash.
The first IndiGo flight departed from Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport and landed in Guangzhou, carrying 176 passengers. India’s largest carrier will operate the new daily non-stop route between the two cities.
New Delhi said the move would “enhance people-to-people contact” and support the “gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges.”
A second route linking Shanghai and New Delhi is set to begin on November 9, operating three times a week.
Air travel between the two Asian giants was suspended at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. It remained halted after deadly clashes erupted that June in the Galwan Valley, where 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese troops were killed.
Relations have since improved modestly, following an agreement in October 2024 aimed at easing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The resumption of flights is seen as a symbolic but significant step in restoring normalcy between the world’s two most populous nations.
