Air India on Sunday resumed direct flights from Shanghai to Delhi after nearly six years after suspending services in early 2020. The airline will operate the route four times a week with its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft with upgraded cabins and enhanced in-flight services, a statement said.
The inaugural Shanghai-New Delhi flight took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport today, carrying more than 230 passengers, an official release said.
Schedule
It has announced the schedule of its Delhi – Shanghai flights. Flight AI352 from Delhi to Shanghai departs at 12:00 and arrives at 2020, while the return flight AI351 from Shanghai to Delhi departs at 22:00 and arrives at 03:15 the next day.
Consul General Pratik Mathur reacts
“The resumption of direct flights between Shanghai and New Delhi is a tangible expression of the renewed dynamism in India-China engagement. Better air connectivity is essential to facilitate trade, tourism, academic exchanges and people-to-people contacts, especially between India and eastern China. We are pleased that Air India is reviving this important link,” said Consul General Pratik Mathur.
The Consulate General of India in Shanghai remains committed to supporting initiatives that enhance connectivity and promote cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, education and cultural exchange.
Meanwhile, IndiGo started operating flights from Kolkata to Guangzhou and Delhi to Guangzhou from November 10, 2025, while Chinese carrier China Eastern restarted its flights from Shanghai to Delhi in November last year.
Air traffic between the two countries has been suspended since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was further delayed by the more than four-year-old border standoff in eastern Ladakh that ended in October last year.
The normalization of India-China relations followed two meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping: first in Kazan, Russia in 2024 and then on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin last year.
Apart from resuming flights, India and China have taken several steps to normalize their relations.
In July, India resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals, which had been suspended due to the military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh that began in May 2020.
The two countries have also taken a number of people-oriented measures to restore ties, including the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, visa facilitation and the reopening of direct flights that resumed in October.
