“Landing is only half the picture, roughly 8000 ft. to take off, without a full fuel/people/cargo load.”
Cocos Islands, north of the Andamans, controlled by Myanmar. China recently expanded the runway at this former Japanese airfield (VYCI) from 5000ft, to around 7,500 feet.
Reportedly, China was going to locate an intelligence group there to monitor Indian Ocean naval movements, but it got publicized.
Oh, and landing is “Restricted” to permission of the Government of Myanmar, only.
It turns out there are a lot of airfields in the region on which the plane could land, and even take off again. Most are controlled by governments or the military of those governments. Which raises questions about which military or civil authorities, acting with or without the official sanction of their governments might be involved, should the aircraft have been successfully diverted?
Tcrlaf, many thanks for that info!
All y’all, another interesting info ping!