China Eastern Airlines to resume flights to India after five-year freeze

Following a five-year freeze, State-backed China Eastern Airlines will resume flights between Shanghai and Delhi as of November 9 with direct air links between China and India. During this period, which has been largely triggered by aggressive US trade policies, the airline’s website has announced.

The airline’s online ticket sales platform announced on Saturday that the flights will run three times per week on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday.

China Eastern Airlines did not respond to the Reuters news agency’s email request for comment right away.

Following a five-year freeze, India’s foreign ministry announced earlier this month that commercial flights between the two neighbors would resume.

The announcement came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China for a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s regional security bloc, which was held there. Modi expressed concern about India’s growing bilateral trade deficit while the two sides discussed ways to improve trade ties.

The foreign ministries of China and India did not respond to inquiries for comment on the flights between Shanghai and Delhi right away.

IndiGo, India’s largest airline, previously announced that flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou would begin every day without stopping.

At the time of the IndiGo announcement, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, which is supported by the state, announced that it would encourage airlines to launch more direct routes, such as those between Guangzhou and Delhi.

In 2020, the two nations suspended direct flights, which were suspended as a result of deadly clashes along their Himalayan border, which caused a protracted military stand-off.

In the worst neighbor-to-neighbour fighting in a decade, 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed.

The diplomatic easing between India and China comes as a result of Donald Trump’s growing trade resentment.

In response to the country continuing to purchase Russian oil, the US president increased the tariff rate to a sluggish 50% in September.