Dhaka: China Eastern Airlines will resume its Delhi-Shanghai flight service today (Nov 9), restoring direct air connectivity between India and China for the first time in more than five years.

The move follows IndiGo’s reintroduction of its Kolkata-Guangzhou route earlier this week.

The China Eastern flight will depart Delhi at 8 PM, arriving in Shanghai early on Monday (Nov 10).

The return flight from Shanghai will leave at 12:30 PM, arriving in Delhi at 6 PM. The service will operate on alternate days.

Pratik Mathur, India’s Consul General in Shanghai, will be on hand to greet passengers on the inaugural flight. He highlighted the significance of the resumed flights for strengthening India-China connectivity and promoting people-to-people ties.

Mathur noted that the new route would help bridge the growing Indian economy with key cities in eastern China, including Shanghai, Hangzhou (a hub for artificial intelligence), and Yiwu and Keqiao, major centres for trade and textiles.

The resumption of flights comes after a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a prolonged border standoff.

Services were suspended in 2020 following the Galwan Valley clashes, but have now resumed after a disengagement agreement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was reached in October 2022.

In recent months, both nations have taken steps to restore relations, including the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and the reopening of flight routes.

-B