Air India to resume flights to China after nearly six years

Air India said on Monday (Nov 17) it will resume New Delhi-China flights starting February 2026, nearly six years after suspension, as recent diplomatic steps are seen as cautiously reopening bilateral links.

The carrier was also planning to launch a Mumbai–Shanghai route later next year, subject to regulatory approvals, it said.

“The reinstatement of Air India’s services to Shanghai follows recent India-China diplomatic agreements that restored the air links paused in early 2020,” Air India said in a statement.

China’s Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport last month announced flights between the two nations were set to resume. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China earlier this year, for the first time in seven years, to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional security bloc.

Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that India and China were development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to strengthen trade ties amid global tariff uncertainty.

Last month, budget airline IndiGo resumed flights from Kolkata to Guangzhou. REUTERS

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