The resumption of direct flights between India and China after a five-year suspension was hailed by arriving passengers Monday, a move important both for trade and a symbolic step as Asia's giants cautiously rebuild relations.

IndiGo flight 6E1703 from Kolkata touched down in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou shortly before 4:00 am (2000 GMT), officially resuming nonstop air links that had been suspended since 2020 due to the pandemic and subsequent geopolitical tensions.

The neighbours and world's two most populous nations remain strategic rivals competing for regional influence, but ties have eased gradually since a deadly Himalayan border clash in 2020.

India's government said the resumption of flights will boost "people-to-people contact" and aid the "gradual normalisation of b

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