BEIJING — India and China plan to resume direct flights between some of their cities after a five-year suspension as the relations between the two countries begin to thaw, Indian authorities announced Thursday.

Direct flights between the two countries were suspended during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and did not resume as Beijing and New Delhi engaged in prolonged border tensions.

Flights between designated cities will resume by late October subject to commercial carriers' decisions, India's embassy to China said in a post on social media platform WeChat.

The resumption is part of the Indian government's "approach towards gradual normalization of relations between India and China," the embassy added.

India's largest carrier IndiGo announced Thursday it would resume flights from Kolkata,

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