India In Talks With China For Alternate Route Amid Pak Airspace Ban: Sources

India is in talks with China to explore Xinjiang airspace as an alternate route for Indian airlines amid Pakistan airspace ban, sources have told NDTV.

The move comes days after China's president Xi Jinping attended BRICS Summit in New Delhi.

Sources say talks are on for over a year to route flights via Hotan.

The Ministry of External Affairs, say sources, is engaging with Chinese counterparts on alternate routes.

Ahead of Xi Jinping's Delhi arrival, China Southern Airlines announced that it will resume direct flights between Guangzhou and New Delhi from September 21, restoring a route that had been suspended for six years.

The resumption is part of a broader restoration of direct air links between the two countries after services were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent tensions along the India-China border.

China Southern said it will operate more than 100 weekly flights across eight round-trip routes in South Asia, strengthening connectivity between China and the region.

IndiGo was the first Indian airline to resume India-China connectivity. The airline resumed direct India-China flights in October 2025, when it restarted services between Kolkata and Guangzhou, followed by Delhi-Guangzhou in November.

Air India resumed direct flights between Delhi and Shanghai on February 1, ending a nearly six-year gap in services to mainland China. The airline initially operated four flights a week and increased the frequency to five flights a week from March 29.

The renewed air connectivity comes against the backdrop of a broader diplomatic engagement between New Delhi and Beijing.

Pakistan's airspace has remained shut to India since April 2025, making alternative routing options an important consideration for air travel.

Two weeks ago, Pakistan extended its restrictions on Indian aircraft by another month amid continuing tensions with New Delhi following the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack and the following military confrontation between the two south Asian arch-rivals.