After Indigo now Air India to resume direct Delhi-Shanghai flight in Feb, ending 6-year break
China Eastern Airlines has resumed direct flights from Shanghai to Delhi, with the first flight taking off on November 9, 2025, following a five-year suspension. The route currently operates three times a week, but the airline plans to increase this to five weekly flights effective January 2, 2026.
These flights are three per week on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Expanded schedule (effective January 2, 2026) will have five flights per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Delhi to Shanghai flight No. MU564 departs Delhi at 7:55 PM and arrives in Shanghai at 4:10 AM the next day. Shanghai to Delhi flight No. MU563 departs Shanghai at 12:50 PM, arrives in Delhi at 5:45 PM local time. The aircraft used is Airbus A330-200 wide-body aircraft. The initial flight had a load factor of over 95%, indicating strong demand for the direct route.
China Eastern Airlines also plans to resume the Kunming-Kolkata service and launch a new Shanghai-Mumbai route.
Air India and IndiGo have also become the third and first airlines to to resume direct flights between India and China. On November 11, IndiGo flight 6E 1701 arrived in Guangzhou from Delhi, marking the carrier’s second route to China in the past month. This follows the resumption of its Kolkata-Guangzhou services on October 26. IndiGo was the first Indian airline to restart direct flights to the China after a five-year hiatus.
Now Air India on Monday announced the resumption of its non-stop flights between Delhi, India and Shanghai, effective on February 1, 2026, marking its return to China after nearly six years of suspension.
It is a second Indian carrier resuming their services to China after IndiGo.
Shanghai is the 48th international destination to be served by Air India group, which continues to carry more passengers internationally than any other airline in India, according to a release posted on its official website on Monday.
Air India said it will operate four times a week between Delhi and Shanghai using its twin-aisle Boeing 787-8 aircraft, featuring 18 flat beds in business class and 238 seats in economy class.
The carrier said the reinstatement of its services to Shanghai follows recent India-China diplomatic agreements that restored air links paused in early 2020 after Galwan skirmishes. Air India had first launched non-stop services to China in October 2000.
Campbell Wilson, CEO & managing director with Air India, said the resumption of the Delhi-Shanghai services is more than a route launch. It is a bridge between two great, ancient civilizations and modern economic powerhouses.
IndiGo has demonstrated its ability to launch new routes rapidly, as seen with the previous Kolkata-Guangzhou service, said Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo, in an exclusive interview with the Global Times in Guangzhou on November 11.
“Clearly we have ambitions to further grow and further develop since one-third of the world’s population is living in India and China together, for we have more direct air connectivity between these two huge populations,” he said.
He also expressed his ambition for the Chinese market, revealing that the airline is evaluating operations from additional Indian cities to more Chinese destinations.
On October 9, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun had said that China and India would resume direct flights before the end of this month.
This is the latest result as the two sides earnestly implement the important consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries during their meeting in Tianjin on August 31, according to Guo.
It is also a positive move to facilitate friendly exchanges between the Chinese and Indian peoples, totaling more than 2.8 billion, around 35 % of the World population.
