China’s Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport has confirmed that direct flights between India and China will resume later this month, ending a halt of more than five years and signalling a cautious easing of bilateral tensions.
There have been no direct flights between China and India since 2020, even though China is India’s biggest bilateral trade partner.
India’s foreign ministry earlier announced the move on Thursday, followed by a statement from India’s largest carrier IndiGo that it would begin daily non-stop flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou on October 26.
In a statement on Friday night, the state-backed Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport noted the IndiGo announcement – the first comment on the move by Chinese authorities.
“In the future, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport will also actively promote airlines to open direct routes such as Guangzhou and Delhi,” the statement said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China a month ago for the first time in seven years to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional security bloc.
Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that India and China were development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to strengthen trade ties amid global tariff uncertainty.
Modi also conveyed India’s commitment to improving ties and raised concerns about its widening trade deficit with China, which stands at nearly $US99.2 billion ($A150.1 billion).
He emphasised the importance of maintaining peace and stability along their disputed border, where a clash in 2020 triggered a five-year military standoff.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
