India, China to resume direct flights after five-year pause to ‘rebuild ties’ 

India and China have agreed to restart direct passenger flights between the two countries, nearly five years after cutting off this connection. 

The announcement was made during a visit by India’s Foreign Secretary, Shri Vikram Misri, to Beijing for talks with China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Sun Weidong, on January 27, 2025, as both nations mark the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relation.  

In their discussions, Weidong reviewed the current state of India-China bilateral relations and agreed to “take certain people-centric steps to stabilize and rebuild ties,” according to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs of India.  

As part of their efforts to improve diplomatic ties, India and China have agreed to restart direct air services between the two countries. 

“The relevant technical authorities on the two sides will meet and negotiate an updated framework for this purpose at an early date,” the statement read. 

However, both countries agreed “to resume these dialogues step by step and to utilize them to address each other’s priority areas of interest and concern,” India’s statement concluded. 

China’s Foreign Ministry issued a separate statement that did not mention the flight resumption agreement but highlighted that both nations are engaging “in active interactions at various levels”. 

“The two sides should seize the opportunity, meet each other halfway, explore more substantive measures, and commit to mutual understanding, mutual support and mutual accomplishment, rather than mutual suspicion, mutual alienation and mutual attrition,” China’s statement read. 

Direct flights between the two countries were halted in early 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While flights to Hong Kong resumed as the health crisis eased, services to mainland China did not, The Guardian reported. 

India-China relations have become increasingly challenging over the past two decades. Tensions escalated in June 2020 when at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Chinese forces in a disputed Himalayan border area.  The post India, China to resume direct flights after five-year pause to ‘rebuild ties’  appeared first on AeroTime.

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