Direct air services between India and China are set to resume after more than five years, with IndiGo restarting operations to Guangzhou as the first carrier to re-establish connectivity between the two countries. The airline will resume its Kolkata–Guangzhou route from October 26 and launch a new Delhi–Guangzhou service on November 10.
The move follows a bilateral agreement between New Delhi and Beijing to restore air links that had been suspended since the Doklam standoff and further delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. IndiGo will operate daily, non-stop flights between Delhi and Guangzhou using its Airbus A320neo aircraft, facilitating trade, business, and tourism exchanges.
The Delhi–Guangzhou route is part of IndiGo’s wider international expansion, which also includes Delhi–Hanoi flights starting December 20, alongside recent launches to London, Athens, and Copenhagen.
China welcomed the resumption of direct flights, describing it as a “positive development” reflecting both nations’ commitment to implementing the understandings reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping to strengthen bilateral ties.
According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, civil aviation authorities finalised the air services agreement earlier this year, part of the government’s gradual approach to normalising relations after military disengagement at Depsang and Demchok in late 2024.
Air India is also preparing to restart services to China by the end of 2025, with officials calling the resumption of direct flights an important step in reviving people-to-people contact and smoothing economic exchanges between India and China.
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