China Southern Returns to Delhi After Five Years

China Southern Airlines resumes daily nonstop flights between Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on September 21, restoring a route the carrier suspended in February 2020. The return closes a gap that lasted more than five years and marks another step in the gradual reopening of direct air links between the two countries, a process that began after the Chinese and Indian foreign ministers agreed in August 2025 to restore scheduled services between them.

The scale of the recovery is becoming measurable. OAG data shows airlines are scheduled to offer roughly 60,000 seats between China and India during September, an increase of 18.8% from August. IndiGo holds the largest share at 37.3%, followed by China Eastern Airlines at 27.9%, Air India at 18.2% and Air China at 13.1%. China Southern’s partial-month operation accounts for the remaining 3.5%, a figure that will rise once the route has a full month of flying behind it.

Guangzhou is a logical entry point for this traffic. The airport is China Southern’s principal hub and one of the country’s busiest, with a dense bank of onward domestic connections and a well-established position on Southeast Asian routes. For Indian travelers, that means the value of the service extends past Guangzhou itself to onward journeys into southern China and, in many cases, connections beyond. Business travel between the two economies has been constrained by the absence of direct capacity, and each restored route incrementally reduces that friction.

Travelers should still plan carefully. Visa processing between the two countries has its own timelines and requirements that are separate from flight availability, and rules have shifted more than once in recent years. Anyone booking should confirm current entry requirements well ahead of departure rather than assuming that a restored flight signals a fully normalized travel relationship. Fares on newly reopened routes can also be volatile in the first months as carriers test demand and adjust capacity.

Sources: Aviation Week, China Southern Airlines