Resumption of direct flights between China, India seen as positive step in exchanges

China and India will resume direct flights before the end of this month, reconnecting the world's two most populous nations after more than five years and signaling renewed efforts to ease tensions and expand exchanges.

The arrangement reflects the earnest efforts made by both sides to implement the important common understandings reached by President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting in Tianjin in August, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Thursday at a regular news conference in Beijing.

It is also a positive step that facilitates friendly exchanges between the more than 2.8 billion people of the two countries, Guo said.

Indian carrier IndiGo will be the first airline to resume direct flights between the two countries. It will launch a daily flight between Kolkata, a city in eastern India, and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, starting on Oct 26, the airline said in a statement, according to Indian media reports.

"Subject to regulatory approvals, IndiGo will also introduce direct flights between New Delhi (the capital of India) and Guangzhou," the statement added.

Air China and China Eastern Airlines are expected to announce flight routes between Chinese and Indian cities soon, media reports said.

Carriers of the two countries operated direct flights between Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Kunming and Indian cities including New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the suspension of services in early 2020.

Guo said on Thursday that China stands ready to work with India to view and handle bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, be friends enjoying good-neighborliness and partners helping each other succeed, in order to deliver tangible benefits to the two peoples and make due contributions to upholding peace and prosperity in Asia and beyond.

Lin Minwang, vice-dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, welcomed the arrangement to resume direct flights, saying that the step meets both countries' needs and reflects the improvement in bilateral ties over the past year.

"The ties between the two neighboring countries shouldn't be caught in an impasse for a long time," Lin said, adding that China is open to further improving relations with India, while the South Asian nation is also showing more willingness and taking more initiative to readjust bilateral relations.

Wang Shida, executive director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that direct flights form a basic condition for normal trade and people-to-people exchanges between countries.

China has been faithful and consistent in expanding its cooperation with India, and has taken concrete measures in this regard, Wang said.