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China Southern Airlines plans to fly India
Monday, 11 October 2004, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: China Southern Air Holding wants to establish direct air links with India especially from the country's largest autonomous region Xinjiang Uygur bordering Jammu and Kashmir, a top official of the airline said.
"We are looking at air links from Kashgar, Urumqi and Bejing to New Delhi," Li Jian, president of China Southern, said here Monday.
"We will be holding talks with Indian civil aviation authorities Tuesday in this regard," Li told IANS on the sidelines of a luncheon meeting between a high-level delegation from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, led by Chairman Ismail Tiliwaldi, and the Confederation of Indian Industry.
The airline executive is expected to hold the talks along with Tiliwaldi and Guan Wuping, party secretary and director of the civil aviation administration for Urumqi.
"We have come here to study the situation. Once I go back, we intend to send another special team to assess if we can have the air links between India and China," Li said.
The two countries opened direct air links in 2002 when China Eastern carried about 100 passengers from Beijing International Airport to the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.
The airline currently operates two scheduled flights a week to New Delhi and plans to increase the frequency to thrice a week from next month.
In addition, the Ethiopian Airlines also operates between Beijing and Mumbai.
Tiliwaldi, who arrived here Saturday, said Xinjiang not only wants to establish direct air routes with India, but also road links.
The region was a key hub on the Silk Route that was the main business link between the East and the West in the ancient times and middle ages.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS