People visit the Delhi Gate in New Delhi, India, Aug. 20, 2025. India boasts a diverse and rich culture, attracting global attention with its historical heritage, Bollywood film industry, yoga culture, and more. Photo: Xinhua

Air India is expected to resume non-stop flights between Delhi and Shanghai in September 2026, Global Times learned from the carrier on Thursday. The move is the latest effort by Indian airlines to enhance personnel exchanges between the two countries. 

It will be the second time that the airline has resumed the flights to the Chinese mainland this year, following a first resumption in February. Air India said the route will operate five times a week between the two cities.

According to the flight schedule, the aircraft will take off from Indira Gandhi International Airport at 11:20 am local time and arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 8:20 pm local time, with a flight time of six hours and 30 minutes. The return flight from Shanghai to Delhi will depart at 10 pm local time and arrive at 2:30 am local time, with a flight time of seven hours.

Air India said that the resumption of this route signifies the full-scale restoration of its operations in the Chinese market.

In May, Air India announced the suspension several routes, including the Delhi-Shanghai route, due to a combination of factors, including continued airspace restrictions over certain regions and record-high jet fuel prices for international operations, which significantly affected the commercial viability of certain planned services. 

Air India is a member of the Star Alliance. Since its privatization in 2022, the airline has been owned by the Tata Group and has been undergoing a comprehensive transformation, with significant investments in fleet modernization, customer experience, and network expansion.

The resumption comes against the backdrop of warming ties between the two countries.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on June 23 and exchanged views on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues. The two major Asian powers have conducted a new round of high-level exchanges amid warming ties.

During the meeting with Doval, Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, said India is an important neighbor of China, and bilateral relations have returned to the track of recovery and improvement, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Earlier, air services between the two countries had also shown an upward trend. 

On November 11 of 2025, IndiGo flight 6E 1701 arrived in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province from Delhi, following the resumption of its Kolkata-Guangzhou services on October 26 of the same year. 

Chinese airlines are also expanding their services in India. 

On April 21, Air China resumed its direct route between Beijing and Delhi. The airline said the resumption filled a key gap in Air China's strategic presence in the Indian market and opened a new chapter in connectivity between the two countries.

Air China said it will expand its South Asia network through its Beijing hub, providing the Indian market with more convenient air links to China, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the Americas, while boosting China-India connectivity and cooperation.

On April 18, China Eastern Airlines resumed direct flights between Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, and Kolkata, India. It marked the carrier's latest expansion of its China-India route network following the resumption of its Shanghai-Delhi service in November 2025.