New Delhi: India is in talks with China over the use of the Asian neighbour’s airspace in the Xinjiang region by Indian commercial airlines to reduce the longer time and higher costs involved for flights to western countries due to the continued closure of Pakistani airspace, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said on Tuesday.
“We are looking at other alternatives. Discussion on the Hotan route in China is going on between the two countries. Our External Affairs Ministry is engaging with the country. Let us see how it goes, but we are trying alternatives,” Naidu told journalists.
The move comes days after China’s President Xi Jinping attended the BRICS Summit in New Delhi. Sources say talks are on for over a year to route flights via Hotan.
Ahead of President Xi’s Delhi arrival, China Southern Airlines announced that it will resume direct flights between Guangzhou and New Delhi from September 21, restoring a route that had been suspended for six years.
The resumption is part of a broader restoration of direct air links between the two countries after services were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent tensions along the India-China border.
China Southern said it will operate more than 100 weekly flights across eight round-trip routes in South Asia, strengthening connectivity between China and the region.
IndiGo was the first Indian airline to resume India-China connectivity. The airline resumed direct India-China flights in October 2025, when it restarted services between Kolkata and Guangzhou, followed by Delhi-Guangzhou in November.
Air India resumed direct flights between Delhi and Shanghai on February 1, ending a nearly six-year gap in services to mainland China. The airline initially operated four flights a week and increased the frequency to five flights a week from March 29.
The renewed air connectivity comes against the backdrop of a broader diplomatic engagement between New Delhi and Beijing.
Pakistan’s airspace has remained shut to India since April 2025, making alternative routing options an important consideration for air travel.
Two weeks ago, Pakistan extended its restrictions on Indian aircraft by another month amid continuing tensions with New Delhi, which avenged the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack with the successful launch of Operation Sindhoor that wiped out terror camps deep in Pakistani territory.
(IANS)
