Air China has restarted its Beijing-Delhi service, the second route opened by Chinese airlines in April
China has increased its direct flights to India amid warming ties between Asian nations.
On Tuesday, Air China will resume direct service between Beijing and Delhi, the Global Times reported.
The Beijing-Delhi direct flight is the second route to India restored by Chinese airlines in less than a week.
China Eastern Airlines relaunched its direct services between Kunming in southwest China’s Yunnan Province and the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on April 18.
An Airbus A330 will operate the Beijing-Delhi route, with service available on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Cleared for Takeoff: China-India Flights Are Roaring Direct connections between China and India are gaining momentum, with Air China restoring Beijing-Delhi flights to three times a week, according to the Global Times. China Eastern Airlines recently resumed… pic.twitter.com/bZf1OzHuj1
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) April 20, 2026
Fares start from $523, and flights will depart the Chinese capital at 3:15 PM and arrive in Delhi at 8:20 PM local time.
China Eastern’s Kolkata flight was the carrier’s latest expansion between China and India, following the reintroduction of the Shanghai-Delhi route in November 2025.
The Kolkata service has six round-trip flights every week.
Indian airlines have also started such services, with the South Asian nation’s largest carrier, Indigo, launching daily direct flights between Kolkata and Shanghai on March 29.
Before that, IndiGo resumed the Kolkata-Guangzhou route and launched the Delhi-Guangzhou route.
Direct flights between China and India resumed October 2025 after standing for five years while the relationship between the two nations improved. They were suspended at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. A border clash in June of that year exacerbated strained relations.
Asian neighbors have also eased visa restrictions on each other’s citizens over the past year.
In July 2025, India resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals after a five-year hiatus. Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China for the first time since 2018, where he met President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
In March, India eased restrictions on Chinese investment in selected sectors, signaling a reset of economic ties, Reuters reported. The countries have also agreed to improve border management and reopen cross-border trade.
Trade between China and India reached a record $ 155 billion in 2025.
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