India-China direct flight: Kolkata-Guangzhou route takes off Sunday; IndiGo daily services begin | India News

NEW DELHI: After a five-year pause, direct flights between Kolkata and China’s Guangzhou city are set to resume on Sunday, with the first flight scheduled to take off from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at 10 pm, an airport official confirmed.Direct flights between India and China were operational until early 2020 but were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Services remained halted amid the eastern Ladakh border tensions.Following recent diplomatic initiatives, private carrier IndiGo announced it will resume daily, non-stop flights connecting Kolkata to Guangzhou starting October 26.China’s state-owned China Eastern Airlines will also resume flights between Shanghai and Delhi from November 9, operating three times a week on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China last month, his first trip in seven years, to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional security meeting. During the visit, PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that India and China are development partners, not rivals, and discussed strengthening trade amid global tariff uncertainties.Addressing a media briefing earlier, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We had issued a press release and thereafter I understand that commercial activity in this regard has started. This is, of course, in line with the growing trend towards normalisation in the relationship between India and China.”