India-China Non-Stop Flights Set To Resume: What Passengers Should Know About Connectivity

1/29/2025 8:21:51 AM

(MENAFN- Live Mint) In early February 2020, while the world was still debating about the flu, which was spreading in China and leading world organisations were not sure if it can transit from one person to another, Indian carriers operated their last non-stop flight to China.
What started as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 pandemic, later became a geopolitical impasse due to the Galwan conflict of 2020, when the armies of the two nations had clashed. After a series of negotiations involving the military, NSA, and foreign ministry, the relations between the two most populous countries in the world are set to move forward. Amongst multiple resumptions due to take place, one is direct flights between India and China.

This will bring a huge respite for passengers, largely traders who frequent the two countries and are currently relying on one-stop flights via Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong or Singapore in most cases to make the trip to China. This also means good news for airlines in India who can reinstate and add flights and cash in on the huge cargo potential between the two countries.

What was the connectivity before closure?

January 2020 was the last full month of operations before the pandemic led to reduction in flights. The Chinese carriers dominated the connectivity between the nations, with Air China operating five times a week to Delhi from Beijing and four times a week to Mumbai from Beijing. China Southern Airlines operated double daily flights to Delhi from Guangzhou, China Eastern Airlines operated eight times a week to Kolkata from Kunming and a daily flight to Delhi from Shanghai, while Shandong Airlines operated four times a week between Delhi and Kunming, data shared by Cirium - an aviation analytics company, show.

From the Indian side, IndiGo operated a daily flight each between Kolkata and Guangzhou and Delhi to Chengdu, while Air India operated five times a week to Shanghai from Delhi. IndiGo had announced flights from Mumbai to Chengdu which were to begin mid-March of 2020 but could never start.
RwandAir of Rwanda was the surprise operator offering flights between Mumbai and Guangzhou thrice a week with full rights to carry passengers between India and China. RwandAir does not operate to India anymore and thus does not operate this sixth freedom route to China.

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