New Delhi: After a gap of five years, India and China will resume direct flight services by the end of this month as part of efforts to rebuild their ties that came under severe strain following the border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

The announcement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s summit in China’s Tianjin city.

The flight services between the two sides were suspended following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. They were not restored in view of the over four-year border face-off in eastern Ladakh, which ended in October last year.

“Since earlier this year, as part of the government’s approach towards gradual normalisation........

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