Hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting at the BRICS Summit, China Southern Airlines announced that it will resume regular passenger flights between Guangzhou and New Delhi from September 21, bringing back its India service after a six-year suspension.
The route’s revival comes ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with PM Modi and will add to China Southern’s expanding South Asia operations.
Following the restart, the airline said it will operate more than 100 weekly flights across eight round-trip routes in the region.
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India, China Resume Air Services
Direct air services between India and China have gradually returned
this year after remaining suspended amid the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent tensions between the two countries following the Doklam and Galwan standoffs.
Air India was among the first to restart operations, bringing back its New Delhi-China services in February 2026. Chinese carriers followed, with China Eastern Airlines restoring its Kunming-Kolkata route on April 18.
Air China subsequently resumed its Beijing-Delhi service in April, adding another direct connection between the two countries. Around the same period, IndiGo began daily nonstop flights between Kolkata and Shanghai on March 30.
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IndiGo’s return to Shanghai came after the airline had already expanded its China network, including the resumption of services between Kolkata and Guangzhou and the subsequent launch of flights from Delhi.
The restoration of direct air links followed confirmation from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that India and China were moving towards resuming direct flight operations.
The latest development comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in New Delhi on Saturday morning to attend the 18th BRICS Summit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Xi is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Modi later in the day.
BRICS Summit
India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13, bringing together leaders and representatives from the expanded grouping.
BRICS initially consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The grouping expanded in 2024 with the inclusion of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, while Indonesia joined in 2025.
Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam are among the countries that became BRICS partner countries last year.
