China to resume Delhi-Guangzhou flight after 6 years as Modi, Xi meet at BRICS

Direct flights between New Delhi and China’s Guangzhou will begin again from the Chinese side after a six-year hiatus, as China Southern Airlines has announced the resumption of the route.

The announcement by the carrier came hours ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India for the BRICS summit

The airline on Saturday said that it will resume regular passenger services on the Guangzhou-New Delhi route starting September 21, Global Times reported.

The airline will operate over 100 weekly flights across its eight round-trip routes in South Asia after restarting service to the Indian capital.

Air service between India and China normalising

India and China have progressively restarted air services between the two countries this year after the suspension in 2020. The suspension was initially prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and was later extended due to tensions following the Doklam and Galwan standoffs.

Air India resumed New Delhi-China flights in February, nearly six years after the suspension. This followed IndiGo's commencement of its inaugural daily, nonstop service between Kolkata and Shanghai on March 30.

Then, in April, Air China resumed its Beijing-Delhi service, the second route to India resumed by Chinese carriers. The first was direct service between Kunming and Kolkata, which China Eastern Airlines restarted on April 18.

IndiGo has recently expanded services in China, including flights from Kolkata to Guangzhou and the subsequent start of operations from Delhi. The Guangzhou-Delhi route will now be restarted by the Chinese side as well.

Xi Jinping's visit to India

Chinese President Xi Jinping is coming to New Delhi on Saturday for the 18th BRICS Summit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will also hold a bilateral meeting with PM Modi later in the day at around 6pm.

Xi Jinping is visiting India for the first time since 2019. The clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers at the Galwan Valley in 2020 had soured relations between the two countries for several months. But it will be the third straight year that Modi and Xi meet bilaterally, following their meetings in Kazan and Tianjin in 2024 and 2025.

According to news agency Xinhua, Jinping has already left Beijing and is expected to arrive in New Delhi at 12:25pm IST.

He is being accompanied by Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, and his foreign minister, Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.