Then I'm lucky to be alive, as it has happened to me on multiple occasions where my flight was delayed for more than 45 minutes while in a holding pattern waiting for permission to land.
India is a long way off, at the end of their range under normal conditions.
Not correct. From the position of their last reported voice contact near Vietnam it is only about 2/3 as far to, say, Hyderabad, India, as it would have been to continue on to Beijing, not taking into account wind currents.
Domestic flights that anticipate holding pattern delays carry more fuel. You probably don’t want to know that your flights probably landed with less than 10 minutes fuel.
We’re talking Beijing, long distance international flights here.
Terrorism is a political act. Hydrabad is not going to be high on the target list, as compared to the capital at New Delhi which is much farther inland.
What do you think? Could the plane have made it to Iran or Pakistan? Does anyone know the exact amount of fuel carried if everything is topped off?