NEW DELHI: Discussions on resuming India-China direct flights remain unresolved amid border tensions.
Direct passenger flight connectivity between India and China still remain a sensitive and a thorny issue as the flights operations between the two giant neighbours haven’t seen the light since the Covid-19 pandemic and the contentious border standoff.
As India hosted the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation this week, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu discussed the early resumption of direct flights between the two countries with an official Chinese delegation in New Delhi.
Taking to X (formerly twitter), Naidu wrote on Thursday, “As the Chairman for the 2nd Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation, I have been utilising the platform to engage in sideline meetings with foreign delegations. This morning, alongside Secretary Shri Vumlunmang Vualnam and other senior officials from my ministry, I had courtesy meeting with Chinese delegation led by Mr Song Zhiyong to exchange views regarding further strengthening civil aviation cooperation between the two countries, especially promoting early resumption of scheduled passenger flights between us.”
Interestingly, the post was later deleted and no official statement was given from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on this. This development happens at a time when the bilateral relations between India and China have been at their lowest, given the border standoff between the two super powers in the region since the deadly Galwan Clash in 2020.
A senior official from the Ministry of Civil Aviation confirmed on the condition of anonymity that although the issue was discussed between the delegation, “there is nothing concrete nor immediate” on this as of now. He further said that this issue of starting the direct flight connectivity between India and China has been in the headlines for some time now as China is keen to start the operations.
“This issue is not just handled by the Ministry of Civil Aviation but involves other important stakeholders as well, including the Ministry of External Affairs”, he added.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were around 550 direct passenger flight between India and China and since December 2019, there have been no direct flights between the two neighbours. Amongst the Indian airlines, IndiGo and Air India were the carriers that operated flights to China, whereas the Chinese carriers that operated flights to India included China Southern, China Eastern and Air China.
Earlier in the year as well, there were reports which claimed that China was pressing India to restart the direct connectivity but MEA, reacting to the report clarified that “peace and tranquility on the border is important”.