Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Sep 12: China Southern Airlines will resume regular passenger services on the Guangzhou-New Delhi route from September 21, marking the return of the service after a six-year suspension.
With the resumption, the airline will operate more than 100 weekly flights across eight round-trip routes in South Asia, the carrier said.
Headquartered in Guangzhou in China's Guangdong province, China Southern Airlines is one of the country's major carriers.
The announcement comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping visits India on Saturday to attend the BRICS Summit and hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on further improving bilateral relations.
Air services between India and China were suspended following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and were not restored during the more than four-year military standoff between the two countries in eastern Ladakh. The standoff ended in October last year.
The resumption of flights is part of the gradual normalisation of India-China relations following meetings between Modi and Xi in 2024 and 2025.
Modi and Xi first met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, in October 2024. They met again during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin in 2025.
Following the improvement in bilateral ties, several Chinese and Indian airlines have resumed services between cities in the two countries, including the Beijing-New Delhi route.
In March this year, IndiGo launched a daily flight between Shanghai and Kolkata, further strengthening air connectivity between India and China.