New Delhi: After a gap of five years, India and China will resume direct flight services later this month as part of efforts to rebuild their ties that came under severe strain following a border standoff in eastern Ladakh.
The announcement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) summit in China’s Tianjin city.
Indian carrier IndiGo and China Eastern will be the first two airlines to resume direct flights between the two countries, people familiar with the development said.
The flight services between the two sides were suspended following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. They were not restored in view of the over-four-year border face-off in eastern Ladakh, which ended in October last year.
India-China relations plunged to their lowest point since the 1962 war following the Galwan valley clashes in June 2020.
After a series of diplomatic and military talks, the two sides withdrew their troops from several friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
In October last year, the two sides firmed up a disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok, the last two friction points.
Days after the agreement was finalised, Modi and Xi held talks in Kazan and took a number of decisions to improve the ties.
In the last few months, the two sides have taken a series of measures to repair the ties. (PTI)
