The Global Times Special Journalist.The editor says:Five years after the suspension of direct flights between China and India, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun recently said at a regular press conference that China and India will resume direct flights before the end of October this year. Indigo Airlines has become the first airline to restart direct flights between China and India, announcing that it will resume direct flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou starting from October 26, 2025. According to Indian media reports, Air India also plans to return to the China market. Experts and industry insiders interviewed by reporters from the Global Times said that the resumption of direct flights is expected to promote the recovery of many economic and trade fields between China and India and inject new stability and sustainability into the development of China-India relations.

Several airlines plan to resume flights

The Times of India reported that direct flights between India and China resumed after more than five years of stagnation. Indigo Airlines of India has announced that it will launch daily direct flights from Delhi to Guangzhou from November 10. The move comes shortly after the airline announced that it will launch a Kolkata-Guangzhou route on October 26. By then, Indigo Airlines will have 14 round-trip flights from Guangzhou to India per week. Indigo Airlines tickets to and from Guangzhou and Kolkata have been launched on October 3 through its official website and mobile app.

"This will once again allow the seamless flow of people, goods and ideas, while also strengthening the relationship between the world's two most populous countries and the fast-growing economies. With this very important step, we are considering introducing more direct flights to China. This is a major move to strengthen our international network as we move steadily towards becoming a player in the global aviation market." Indigo Airlines CEO Peter Elbers said recently.

India's Economic Times reported that Air India also plans to open direct flights between China and India before the end of the year, and the Delhi-Shanghai route will be its first route to resume operations. Officials at New Delhi airport revealed that some China airlines are in contact with them to plan to open direct flights between China and India.

In 2019, there were more than 500 flights to and from China and India every month, operated by Air India, Indigo Airlines, Air China, China Southern Airlines and other airlines. In 2020, affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, international flights were suspended. When China and India will resume direct flights has been a topic of much attention in the past.

In an interview with the reporter of the "Global Times", Zhang Bao Xin, China's global tourism minister, said: "Since the interruption of China-India direct flight in 2020, the two countries' passengers have been forced to pass through Dubai, Singapore and other third countries, resulting in more than 40% increase in travel time, originally less than 6 hours of flight extended to more than 10 hours, the cost has also risen to 40%. after the restoration of direct flight, the transfer demand will be converted to direct traffic, not only to improve the traveler's experience, but also to reshape the air network pattern of the Asian region."

The Hong Kong South China Morning Post that China-India direct flights are about to resume, and both sides cautiously repair relations. In the context of increasing geopolitical turmoil, the two countries are cautiously alleviating tensions. India and China initially agreed to resume direct flights in January this year, and reiterated this decision in June. India also lifted travel visa restrictions for Chinese citizens in July this year.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press conference on October 9 that the resumption of direct flights between China and India is the latest manifestation of the two sides 'earnest implementation of the important consensus reached by President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi at the Tianjin meeting on August 31. It is also a positive measure to facilitate friendly exchanges between the more than 2.8 billion people of China and India.

Indian tourism practitioners: "An exciting signal"

In the industry, people generally believe that the recovery of direct flights has positive implications for many economic areas of China and India. Zhang Baoshin said that China is the world's two-most-growing majority, the aviation market potential is huge. In 2019, China operated about 50 direct flights per week, the annual passenger traffic is considerable, only New Delhi-Shanghai routes annual passenger traffic reached 14.9 million times. During the direct flight interruption, passengers from China and India through the third country traveled 57,2 million times, this number is much lower than the number of passengers traveled before the epidemic, indicating that the market potential has not yet been fully unleashed. In 2024, the bilateral trade volume has increased to 13.84,78 billion dollars, and trade has provided a stable basis for international pass

However, Zhang Bao Xin said that the succession of China-India direct flights can gradually restore to the 2019 level, also influenced by many factors such as policy and regulatory environment, China-India airline market structure, visa facilitation.

Dong Ruixia, head of India's "Window of the World" travel agency, told the Global Times reporter that as a practitioner who has been deeply involved in the Indian tourism market for 23 years, the resumption of direct flights between China and India is undoubtedly an exciting signal. This is not only an update of the route map, but also a sign that the Sino-Indian tourism market is about to usher in structural changes. Direct flights effectively avoid the fatigue and uncertainty of transit, and are especially welcomed by family tourists and senior groups. The saved transit accommodation fees and time can enable travel agencies to design products with more competitive prices. The resumption of direct flights from New Delhi to Chinese mainland has facilitated the development of high-end tourist routes in the "Golden Triangle" with North Indian culture as its core. The Calcutta route is an ideal starting point for exploring the mysteries of East India. She further said, "All in all, the resumption of direct flights between China and India is a market opportunity that I have been waiting for for five years. It reduces costs, improves customer experience and opens up space for product innovation. The company will establish contact with relevant airlines as soon as possible, lock in advantageous cabins, design and launch new tourist routes, and the products will take 'direct flights' as the core selling point. From a long-term perspective, I will regard it as the starting point for a new round of growth in the Sino-Indian tourism market, and actively pay attention to the subsequent resumption plans of other airlines and changes in related policies. "

Qingdao Travel Media Public Relations Manager Li Monang told the Global Times reporter on the 15th that he has paid attention to the information that China-India Direct flights are about to return. From the product perspective before the epidemic, the development of Indian tourist destinations is relatively concentrated in the north. With the restoration of China-India Direct flights, it will consider creating a holistic Indian tourism product to give tourists a more comprehensive understanding of India.

People in the Indian tourism industry welcomed this news. Jyoti Mayar, chairman of the Indian Tourism and Hotel Industry Skills Committee and former president of the Indian Travel Agency Association, said that the resumption of direct flights will promote economic growth, cultural exchanges and tourism development, and is an important step in strengthening bilateral relations. Anil Punjab, of the Federation of Travel Agents in the Eastern Regions of India, said the new route offers an excellent opportunity to strengthen the ties between the two peoples and to develop the tourism industry together.

Gary Ballman, co-founder of the high-income tourism consultancy, predicts that travel flows will gradually recover, depending on flight supply, cost, and travel products designed for different tourist markets.

Revitalizing business networks and promoting human exchanges

The resumption of direct flights between India and mainland China not only marks the resumption of passenger connections, but also marks the strategic adjustment of regional air freight and trade logistics.The route will resume efficient transportation of air freight worth more than $10 billion a year, enhance the reliability of cold chain transportation, help restore supply chain resilience, reduce reliance on third-country hubs, and reposition India and China as key logistics hubs in the Indo-Pacific region.

Wang Feng, a researcher at the National Institute of Strategic Research at Qingdao University, told the Global Times that during the five-year interruption of direct flights, China-India trade costs increased significantly. The data of the Indian Federation of Industry and Commerce showed that after the interruption of direct flights, enterprise logistics time increased by 40% and costs increased significantly. For example, Indian pharmaceutical companies need to import raw materials from China, and direct flight interruption has caused delays in some drug production; Chinese mobile phone manufacturers also face capacity fluctuations due to low transport efficiency of parts when assembling products in India. With the gradual opening of future major city flights between the two countries, the potential for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries is expected to be further released.

Direct flight is also believed to be the "accelerator" of the economic and trade relations between the two countries, will restore business confidence and networking over the past five years, discomfort in people's exchanges resulting in reduced efficiency of supply chain coordination.

Michela, executive vice president of the China Trade Center in India, said that direct flights not only facilitate trade and reduce business costs, but also build trust.In the context of the U.S. tariff war that has caused trade unrest, direct flights are a long-term strategic initiative taken by the two governments to improve the trade and business environment.

Saqif, secretary-general of the India-China Economic and Cultural Promotion Association, told the Global Times reporter that the relations between the two countries have ushered in a gratifying thaw, and restarting people-to-people and cultural exchanges will ease tensions and rebuild true understanding. Economically, it is expected that trade volume and tourism will increase significantly; In terms of geopolitics, it shows that the two sides are willing to ease tensions and strengthen cooperation within the framework of the SCO and BRICS through steps such as interconnection.

China-India's re-establishment of direct flights, as a corresponding air bond, pulling the two countries back from the political game's impasse to the win-win cooperation track, is another key sign of continued transformation of bilateral relations. This not only greatly facilitates the exchanges and economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, but also helps to restore the political mutual trust and civil exchanges between the two sides, inject new stability and sustainability for the development of Chinese-India relations, laying the foundation for future practical cooperation. In a political sense, the re-establishment of direct flights is a direct embodiment of the current New Delhi-China policy adjustment, marking the flow of India-China knowledge from the "zero-sum game" to further return to "win-