India and China to resume direct flights as ties improve

Kolkata (AFP/RSS): India and China resume direct flights on Sunday after a five-year suspension, a move important both for trade and a symbolic step as Asia’s giants cautiously rebuild relations.

The neighbours — the world’s two most populous nations — remain strategic rivals competing for regional influence, but ties have eased gradually since a deadly Himalayan border clash in 2020. India’s government said the resumption of flights will boost “people-to-people contact” and aid the “gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges”.

Warming relations with Beijing come as India’s ties with key trade partner Washington struggle, following US President Donald Trump’s order of punishing 50 percent tariffs.

Trump’s aides have accused India of fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine by buying Moscow’s oil. India’s largest commercial carrier, IndiGo, is set to operate the first daily flight to mainland China, departing Kolkata at 10:00 pm (1630 GMT) Sunday for Guangzhou.

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.

“The direct air link will reduce logistics and transit time,” said Rajeev Singh, head of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, telling AFP it would benefit businesses. India’s eastern port city of Kolkata has centuries-old ties with China dating back to British rule, when Chinese migrants 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 Khoi Kui, a civil society leader in Kolkata’s Chinatown district of Tangra. “Air connectivity will boost trade, tourism and business travel.”