Monica Liu, an Indian citizen and entrepreneur with origins from China, waves as she prepares to depart for Guangzhou, from the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on October 26, 2025.
Passengers of the first direct flight between India and China in five years touched down today, after Asia's giants lifted a long-term air travel suspension as they cautiously rebuild relations.
IndiGo flight 6E1703 from Kolkata touched down in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou shortly before 4am (8pm GMT), officially resuming nonstop air links that had been suspended since 2020 due to the pandemic.
India's government said the resumption of flights will boost "people-to-people contact" and aid the "gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges."
Passengers aboard the first flight — among them many Indians in search of cross-border business opportunities — told AFP at the 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.
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 today in Guangzhou, told AFP that without the new nonstop, passengers would need to travel through other airports, such as in 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 of flowers presented to him upon arrival.
"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."
'First step'
The resumption of direct flights is a "first step" in repairing ties, said passenger Athar Ali, a 33-year-old businessman from India, as he waited to check in for IndiGo's Monday flight returning the aircraft to Kolkata.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the check-in counter, where a long queue had formed for the first direct flight from China's mainland to India since 2020.
Nonstop services between the two countries were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic, halting roughly 500 monthly services.
This month, soldiers on each side exchanged gifts of sweets on the Hindu festival of Diwali, "marking a gesture of goodwill", said Yu Jing, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in India.
Source: AFP