India and China could soon resume direct passenger flights

India and China could soon resume direct passenger flights. The subject came up on Thursday when the two nations discussed steps that could be initiated in order to restore and strengthen cooperation in the civil aviation sector, on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation in the Capital.

At the event, India’s Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu and Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam, along with senior officials, had a meeting with a delegation from China led by Song Zhiyong, Party Secretary of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Naidu later wrote about the event in a post on his X page, in which he informed the focus of the meeting was to exchange views on further “strengthening civil aviation cooperation between the two countries, especially promoting early resumption of scheduled passenger flights between us”.

The matter of resuming flights between the two nations was brought up by the Chinese delegation, Naidu later informed the press. A decision on the issue is yet be taken, he added.

A final call on resuming direct passengers flights with China would be taken only after discussions with the Union Ministry of External Affairs and various stakeholders, sources said.

Direct passenger flight services between India and China were discontinued around the time when the Covid pandemic broke out. Indian carriers operating between the two nations were Air India and IndiGo.