India-China passenger flights to resume after four years? Discussed matter, says minister

New Delhi: India and China discussed early resumption of direct passenger flights between their two countries, India's Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Thursday, in an indication that their air travel could recover after four years.

Reuters reported in June that China was pressing India to restart direct passenger flights, but New Delhi was resisting as a border stand-off continues to weigh on ties between the Asian rivals.

Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who share a largely undemarcated Himalayan border, have been strained since a military clash on their Himalayan frontier in 2020 killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.

Ever since, India has tightened scrutiny of investments from China, banned hundreds of popular apps and severed passenger air routes, although direct cargo flights still connect the world's two most populous nations.

Kinjarapu said he met Song Zhiyong, the head of Civil Aviation Administration of China, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation in New Delhi.

The two discussed "further strengthening civil aviation cooperation between the two countries, especially promoting early resumption of scheduled passenger flights", Naidu said in a post on X.

Restarting direct flights would help both countries, but the stakes are higher for China, where recovery in travel after the Covid-19 pandemic has not been as upbeat as in India's booming aviation sector.