GUANGZHOU: The resumption of direct flights between India and China after a five-year suspension was hailed by arriving passengers on Monday, a move that is important both for trade and as a symbolic step as Asia's giants cautiously rebuild relations.
IndiGo flight 6E1703 from Kolkata touched down in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou shortly before 4 a.m. (2000 GMT), officially resuming nonstop air links that had been suspended since 2020 due to the pandemic and subsequent geopolitical tensions.
The neighbors and 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 normalization of bilateral exchanges."
Passengers aboard the first flight — among them many Indians seeking cross-border business opportunities — told AFP at Guangzhou airport about the convenience of the resumed links.
"It was such a smooth and easy, lovable trip," said Rashika Mintri, a 44-year-old interior designer from Kolkata.
"I could come again and again," she said.
More flights to begin
Warming relations with Beijing come as India's ties with its key trade partner, Washington, falter following US President Donald Trump's order imposing punishing 50% tariffs.
Trump's aides have accused India of fueling Russia's war in Ukraine by buying Moscow's oil.
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.
Abhijit Mukherjee, the captain of the flight that arrived Monday in Guangzhou, told AFP that without the new nonstop, passengers would need to travel through other airports, such as Bangkok or Singapore.
"It adds up," the 55-year-old pilot said of the transfers.
But the direct flight he had just completed was "very smooth," he said, holding a bouquet presented to him upon arrival.
"The direct air link will reduce logistics and transit time," Rajeev Singh, head of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, told AFP, adding that 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."
'Long-term challenge'
India runs a significant trade deficit with Beijing, relying heavily on Chinese raw materials for industrial and export growth.
The thaw between New Delhi and Beijing followed meetings between their leaders in Russia last year and in China in August.
India's imports from China surged to more than $11 billion last month, up 16.4% from September 2024, according to New Delhi's commerce ministry.
Exports from India to China were $1.47 billion, modest by comparison but up around 34% year-on-year.
Direct flights between the two countries were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, halting roughly 500 flights per month.
Relations then plummeted after the 2020 border skirmish between the nuclear-armed nations, when at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
New Delhi responded by tightening restrictions on Chinese investments and banning hundreds of apps, including TikTok.
India then deepened ties with the US-led Quad alliance — also including Japan and Australia — aimed at countering China's influence in the Asia-Pacific.
Both sides have troops posted along their contested 3,500-kilometer (2,175-mile) high-altitude frontier.
But this month, soldiers on both sides exchanged sweets on the Hindu festival of Diwali, "marking a gesture of goodwill," said Yu Jing, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India.
The Indian Express, in an editorial after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping met in August, said improving ties with Beijing "sends an appropriate signal" to Washington.
But relations still have a long way to go.
"Managing an increasingly assertive China remains India's long-term challenge," the newspaper added.
"These fundamental realities remain unchanged, regardless of Trump's whimsical diplomatic actions.”
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