An IndiGo flight from Kolkata to Guangzhou carrying around 180 passengers, marked the first direct air connection since early 2020.

Services were suspended at the height of the pandemic and did not restart after a deadly clash in a disputed Himalayan border region escalated tensions.

The Indian government said the resumption of flights would "facilitate people-to-people contact" and help "the gradual normalisation of bilateral exchanges".

The move is the latest sign of improving ties. Last year, India and China reached an agreement on border patrols. There has also been a steady return to high-level contact.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi visited China in August for the first time in seven years and met President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. Earlier that month, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi travelled to Delhi and discussed "de-escalation, delimitation and boundary affairs" with Indian officials.

India also resumed issuing visas for Chinese tourists in July.

At Kolkata Airport , airline staff lit brass oil lamps to mark the return of direct services as passengers checked in for IndiGo flight 6E 1703.

Qin Yong, a senior Chinese consular official, said: "It is a very important day for the India-China relationship."

Passengers on the first flight said the return of nonstop links would make business and family travel faster. Krishna Goyal said: "Earlier, we had to change two or three flights to reach China. We used to go to Singapore from Kolkata and from there to China." He said direct services would boost trade and relations between the two countries.

Before the suspension, India and China operated around 2,588 scheduled flights in 2019, according to travel data provider OAG.

Air connectivity is now expected to continue expanding. China Eastern Airlines plans to launch a new three-times-weekly service between Shanghai and Delhi from 9 November.