India and China to resume direct commercial passenger flights late October, ending five-year suspension

India and China will resume direct commercial passenger flights later this month, ending a nearly five‑year suspension that began with the Covid‑19 pandemic and diplomatic tensions. The Ministry of External Affairs says one‑to‑one services start at the end of October 2025, with bookings opening this week.

Discovered 2025-10-05T03:24:25.004106-07:00 | 2025-10-05T03:24:25.004106-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

Reopens a long‑frozen India–China air corridor and forces carriers to reassess bilateral network and capacity plans; this follows the governments' agreement to restart nonstop commercial flights.
Regulatory and commercial steps are already under way: three Chinese carriers have applied to India’s DGCA, while IndiGo has scheduled daily Kolkata–Guangzhou service from Oct. 26.
Initial operations will be limited — one‑to‑one services from end‑October with bookings opening now — a constrained restart that will shape near‑term passenger and cargo capacity on the bilateral market.

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