India and China are likely to restore direct air connectivity in the coming weeks, according to media reports, marking a potential thaw after 5-years of suspended services and strained ties.
Direct flights between the two countries were halted in early 2020 at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and were never revived, as relations sharply deteriorated following Chinese incursions in the Himalayas and the deadly clashes of June 2020, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead taking ties to their lowest point since the 1962 war.
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Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that flights could resume as early as next month, with an announcement expected on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in China at the end of August. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend the summit for the first time since the 2020 downturn, and Indian carriers have reportedly been asked to be ready to launch services to China at short notice.
Despite recent confidence-building steps such as China reopening the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra and India restoring tourist visas for Chinese nationals the relationship remains far from normalized. Beijing has continued to restrict rare earths to India while resuming supplies to other nations, and has also limited specialty fertilizer exports and held back Chinese engineers from working in India’s mobile manufacturing units.
Security concerns persist as well. China’s close support to Pakistan was evident during the May India-Pakistan flare-up, with Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh, the Indian Army’s Deputy Chief, stating last month that China was effectively engaging India “via a backdoor,” noting that approximately 81% of Pakistan’s military hardware is sourced from China and describing the conflict as a “live lab” for Chinese systems, while also highlighting Turkey’s role.
On the border, the standoff in Ladakh that began in 2020 remains unresolved. While some forward deployments and equipment have been pulled back, broader de-escalation has yet to occur, and full restoration of patrolling in all friction areas is still pending.
If announced, the resumption of direct flights would be a practical step toward rebuilding connectivity, even as the broader strategic and economic frictions between New Delhi and Beijing endure.