India, China resume flights after 5 years

ROUTES WILL HELP REBUILD TRADE AND TOURISM TIES BETWEEN NATIONS

- BY STEPHEN N. R.

After more than five years, direct flights between India and China have resumed — a move hailed as both a symbolic breakthrough and a practical boost to trade, tourism and diplomacy between the two Asian giants.

The first flight from Kolkata to Guangzhou took off yesterday, marking the formal restoration of air connectivity that had been suspended since the Covid-19 pandemic and the deadly Galwan Valley clash in May-June 2020.

Flights on the Shanghai-New Delhi route will follow on November 9, with three services per week, ANI reported.