India, China discuss civil aviation cooperation; resumption of direct flights

Union Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Thursday took to social media platform X to say India and China discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in the civil aviation sector but deleted the post hours later without offering an explanation or a revised post.

Naidu, Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam and other senior officials met with the representatives from China on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation in the national capital.

In a post on X, Naidu said he along with senior officials had a courtesy meeting with a Chinese delegation led by Song Zhiyong.

The meeting focused on exchange of views regarding "further strengthening civil aviation cooperation between the two countries, especially promoting early resumption of scheduled passenger flights between us," the minister said in the post.

However, the post was deleted a few hours later.

Earlier, before the post was deleted, Naidu told reporters that the Chinese side mentioned about resumption of direct flights but no decision has been taken. A decision will be taken after discussions with the external affairs ministry and other stakeholders, he added.

Currently, there are no direct flights between India and China. The services stopped at the time of coronavirus pandemic.