At 9.48am on Thursday, Air India flight 423 took off from New Delhi bound for Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat state, 600 miles south-west. It was an entirely normal day – although hotter than usual for the time of year in north India – and an entirely normal flight, except for the fact that the plane, an 11-year-old Boeing Dreamliner, landed 20 minutes early.
After more than two hours on the tarmac parked at Terminal 2 of the sprawling Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport, captain Sumeet Sabharwal, an experienced pilot, taxied on to the single runway and prepared for takeoff.
