China is pressuring India to resume direct passenger flights after a four-year hiatus, but New Delhi resists as a border dispute continues to strain ties between the world’s two most populous countries , officials said.
Relations between India and China have been strained since the biggest military confrontation in decades on their disputed Himalayan border killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers in June 2020. Thousands of troops remain mobilized on both sides else.
Since the clash, India has made it difficult for Chinese companies to invest, banned hundreds of popular apps and halted passenger routes, although direct cargo flights still operate between the Asian giants.
Direct flights would benefit both economies, but the stakes are higher for China, where the resumption of overseas travel after the COVID-19 pandemic is slow, while the Indian aviation sector is in full swing. growth.
On several occasions over the past year, the Chinese government and airlines have asked Indian civil aviation authorities to restore direct air links, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. one of them specifying that China considered this question to be an “important issue”.
“We hope the Indian side will work with China in the same direction for an early resumption of direct flights,” China’s foreign ministry told Reuters last week, adding that resumption of flights would be in the interests of two countries.
But a senior Indian official familiar with bilateral developments between India and China said of Beijing’s desire to resume flights: “Until there is peace and tranquility on the border, the rest of the relationship will not be cannot progress.
Indian airlines are holding discussions with New Delhi, while Chinese carriers are talking with their government about resuming direct routes, Pieter Elbers, CEO of Indigo, India’s largest airline, told Reuters.
India’s foreign affairs and civil aviation ministries did not respond to requests for comment.
Beijing has repeatedly protested India’s increased surveillance of Chinese companies since 2020. Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi told the Indian government this year that “trust-building” measures were needed because component suppliers were reluctant to move to India, citing compliance and visa issues.
“BEYOND OUR LEVEL
Direct India-China flights peaked in December 2019, with a total of 539 flights scheduled by airlines including IndiGo, Air India, China Southern, China Eastern, Air China and Shandong Airlines, data from the airline shows. Cirium aviation analysis.
Chinese carriers have scheduled 371 such flights, more than double the 168 scheduled by Indian airlines.
Flights were halted four months later due to the worsening pandemic. Except for a small number of COVID repatriation flights, they have not resumed, although India lifted COVID restrictions on international air routes a year later and China lifted all measures related to COVID travel in early 2023.
Travelers must now change planes either in Hong Kong, which has an aviation regulator and border controls separate from those in the rest of China, or in hubs such as Dubai or Singapore.
The India-China journey has thus increased from less than six hours to more than ten hours, which has allowed companies like Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific to gain market share, including in the lucrative transit traffic to United States.
The resumption of Chinese outbound travel has been slow due to rising costs and difficulties in obtaining visas for Chinese who spend the most on international tourism and air transport.
Indigo’s Mr. Elbers said in a recent interview in Dubai: “When the time is right and governments reach a mutual agreement on how to move forward, we will evaluate the market. “
IndiGo operates seven flights per week on the Delhi-Hong Kong route, where passengers can connect to mainland China.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson says direct flights between India and China “seem to be a huge potential market” but for now factors “out of our control” come into play .
