Indian airline IndiGo has expanded its network from the eastern metro city of Kolkata to China's city Shanghai, boosting its air connectivity between the two neighboring nations. The series IndiGo6E flight was launched by the Indian Consulate General in Shanghai, Pratik Mathur. After the launch, he addressed the IndiGo management team and focused on positive momentum, appreciated the growing confidence and enthusiasm through booming air connectivity and resurgent economic links between India and the region. The Indian Consulate in Shanghai posted on the social media platform X.
The Indian airlines have started this connectivity from metro cities, especially Delhi and Kolkata, to Chinese cities. Kolkata is the second biggest Indian metro, which is now linked with Shanghai after the capital, New Delhi. After IndiGo, Air China plans to launch a direct flight between the two capitals of the two countries, New Delhi and Beijing, from April 21, as mentioned by the officials.
The interesting part is that both Kolkata and Shanghai have a strong literary connection to the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
Rabindranath Tagore's ties with China reflect deep cultural unity with India. His 1924 visit, lectures, and exchanges promoted Asian humanism, revived civilization links, and influenced thinkers. Though initially debated, his vision later symbolized enduring friendship and cultural cooperation between the two nations.
The India-China flight data includes about 753,000 passengers who traveled in 2025, with rising seat capacity in 2026 as per the reports of Sabre.
India and China resumed flights between cities in both countries in October of last year after a five-year freeze in relations. IndiGo now operates routes from Kolkata to Guangzhou and from New Delhi to Guangzhou. Chinese carrier China Eastern has also restarted flights from Shanghai to Delhi.
Flight services between the two countries were originally suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They remained halted amid a more than four-year border standoff in eastern Ladakh, which ended in October last year.
The normalization of India-China relations followed two meetings between Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jingping, first in Kazan, Russia in 2024, and later on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin last year.
In addition to restoring flights, both countries have taken several steps to improve ties. In July, India resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens.
