India and China have agreed to resume direct air service by late October 2025, taking a big step toward normalizing bilateral relations that have been strained since the 2020 border conflict and exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to the ministry’s statement, technical discussions between aviation officials from both sides have been ongoing since early this year.
The Ministry of External Affairs announced this development following ongoing technical discussions between civil aviation authorities and recent diplomatic engagements, including talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit.
The new agreement allows approved carriers from India and China to operate direct flights between agreed-upon sites beginning with the winter season schedule, subject to meeting all operational and commercial requirements.
IndiGo has announced that it will restart daily nonstop flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou on October 26, 2025, with intentions to launch direct flights to Delhi and Guangzhou soon, subject regulatory permissions. Indigo will fly these routes with Airbus A320neo aircraft.
The return of direct flights is intended to boost cross-border trade, improve key corporate connections, and increase tourism between India and China, two of the world’s fastest-growing economies. This effort also hopes to increase people-to-people relations, which have been severely limited in the four years since flights were suspended, disrupting commercial, tourism, and intellectual engagements.
IndiGo has announced that it will resume daily nonstop flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from October 26, 2025, with intentions to establish direct flights to Delhi and Guangzhou soon, subject regulatory permissions. Indigo will fly these routes with Airbus A320neo planes.
The reintroduction of direct flights is intended to boost cross-border trade, improve key corporate connections, and increase tourism between India and China, two of the world’s fastest expanding economies. This measure also aims to facilitate people-to-people exchanges, which have been severely limited in the four years since flights were suspended, disrupting commercial, tourism, and intellectual engagements.
India-China direct flights will restart on October 26, 2025, beginning with IndiGo’s Kolkata-Guangzhou route and soon followed by Delhi-Guangzhou flights. This development represents a cautious but significant warming in bilateral relations, promising to increase business, tourism, and strategic cooperation between the two Asian superpowers.
