India-China Skies Reopen: First Direct Flight In 5 Years Lands After Border Thaw

Non-stop flights have restarted between India and China after a five-year suspension, reflecting a recent thaw in relations between the two most populous nations. IndiGo, the largest carrier in India, became the first carrier to resume India-China flights after months of planning, reconnecting Kolkata’s thriving textile and jute industries with the wholesale markets of Guangzhou in southern China.

Flight 1703 departed from Kolkata on Sunday evening, operated by an Airbus A320neo, and touched down at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport some three-and-a-half hours later. It is the first of what is expected to be a rush of new travel options between the two countries. Two additional non-stop routes will launch next month, and more are in the works as both Indian and Chinese airlines respond to the opportunity.

The First India-China Flight In Five Years

Back in 2019, approximately 1.25 million people traveled on nearly 2,600 non-stop flights between India and China, according to OAG reporting. But the pandemic caused the initial shutdown of the air corridor, and then the bilateral relationship soured further following a military standoff in Eastern Ladakh, which has prevented the resumption of direct flights until now.

Over the course of this year, both governments have made efforts to normalize relations. Part of those discussions was an agreement to resume direct flights as soon as possible, including creating an updated Air Services Agreement, as well as the opening up of bilateral visa programs that have been kept at near zero over recent years. This led to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers saying that his airline was “ready to go” with direct service to China “as soon as the bilateral arrangements are in place.”

Sunday’s flight is a culmination of those efforts. Airline staff lit brass oil lamps to mark the resumption of direct flights as 176 IndiGo passengers departed on the new daily non-stop service. One of those passengers, Krishna Goyal, told the ANI news agency he was traveling to China for business, and was delighted with the new route:

“This is a very happy moment for us. This will boost our trade, and relations between the Indian government and the Chinese government have improved significantly. I have been traveling to China since 2002, and we used to have to change two or three flights. Now we can just fly direct.”

More New Routes About To Launch

IndiGo’s new route from Kolkata to Guangzhou will be followed very shortly by a second non-stop route to China starting next month. This will see the carrier operate its A320neos on a daily return flight from the Indian capital of New Delhi to Guangzhou. The 2,266 mile (3,647 km) route will depart New Delhi at 21:45, arriving in Guangzhou at 04:40 the next morning, with a six-hour return leg departing at 05:50.

Meanwhile, China Eastern will be the first Chinese airline to fly non-stop to India since the pandemic. It will begin a non-stop service from its base at Shanghai Pudong International Airport to New Delhi on November 9th. It will operate the route three times weekly (Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays) using an Airbus A330-200. The airline used to operate this route daily prior to the pandemic, so frequencies will likely increase.

Other Carriers That Are Making Preparations

Prior to 2020, direct flights between China and India were limited but growing, with a total of 9 routes by seven different carriers. So we can expect more operators from both countries to join the fray, and a number of them are already seeking regulatory approvals:

• China Southern: The Guangzhou-based carrier had the highest market share on India-China flights in 2019 with 31%, and will likely look to resume its twice-daily flights to New Delhi as a starting point.
• Air China: Expect to see the Chinese flag carrier re-initiate its daily flights from Beijing to New Delhi and Mumbai.
• Air India: The Indian flag carrier used to fly daily from New Delhi to Shanghai, but with a larger and growing fleet, we can expect it to expand beyond that.
• Shandong Airlines: The carrier has filed for passenger routes from Kunming to New Delhi, which it used to fly four times weekly prior to the pandemic.

What is certain is that the balance of power between Indian and Chinese carriers will shift from what it was. When there were last non-stop flights between the two countries, Chinese carriers dominated the market. They generally utilized larger aircraft and had greater frequencies, resulting in a more than an 80% share of the 125,000 available seats per month.

Now, IndiGo is more than twice the size that it was back then, and has been focusing heavily on international expansion. With some 950 aircraft set to be delivered over the next decade, it is well positioned to provide extensive connections between the world’s two most populous countries. And Air India is now privatized and well-capitalized, and is also building the capacity to establish trunk routes as well as connect secondary cities in both nations.