NEW DELHI/HONG KONG, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Air India is lobbying the Indian government. The company aims to convince China to let it use a sensitive military airspace zone in Xinjiang. This would help shorten routes. The financial toll from a ban on Indian carriers flying over Pakistan is mounting, a company document shows.
The unusual request comes just weeks after direct India-China flights resumed. This resumption occurred after a five-year hiatus following a Himalayan border clash between the nations.
India’s foreign ministry earlier announced the move on Thursday, followed by a statement from India’s largest carrier IndiGo (INGL.NS)
, opens new tab that it would begin daily non-stop flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou on October 26.
In a statement on Friday night, the state-backed Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport noted the IndiGo announcement. This was the first comment on the move by Chinese authorities.
“In the future, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport will also actively promote airlines to open direct routes such as Guangzhou and Delhi,” the statement said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China a month ago for the first time in seven years to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional security bloc.
Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that India and China were development partners. They were not rivals. They also discussed ways to strengthen trade ties amid global tariff uncertainty.
Modi also conveyed India’s commitment to improving ties and raised concerns about its widening trade deficit with China, which stands at nearly $99.2 billion.
He emphasised the importance of maintaining peace and stability along their disputed border, where a clash in 2020 triggered a five-year military standoff.
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