AirAsia jet missing on flight from Indonesia to Singapore; 162 aboard

An AirAsia Indonesia commercial flight to Singapore with 162 people on board was missing Sunday after it lost contact with air traffic controllers, according to the airline and aviation officials.

Indonesian rescue teams were searching for QZ8501, an Airbus 320-200 passenger jet that took off from the Indonesian city of Surabaya at 5:27 a.m. and was traveling over the Java Sea, according to FlightRadar24, a website that monitors global air traffic. The aircraft lost contact at 7:24 a.m., the airline said, when it was traveling in Indonesian air space.

AirAsia said in a statement on its Facebook page that the aircraft was on its original flight path but had requested to deviate “due to en route weather.”

“AirAsia Indonesia is cooperating fully and assisting the investigation in every possible way,” the airline said.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said in Malaysia that he was traveling to Surabaya, where most of the passengers were from, along with other senior airline officials.

“Thank you for all your thoughts and [prayers],” Fernandes tweeted. “We must stay strong.”

According to the Associated Press, Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia’s acting director general of transportation, told reporters: “We don’t dare to presume what has happened except that it has lost contact.”

He said the last communication between the pilot and air traffic control was at 6:13 a.m. (2313 GMT Saturday) when the pilot “asked to avoid clouds by turning left and going higher to 34,000 feet.”

He said there was no distress signal from the cockpit, AP reported.

The flight was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members, including 16 children and an infant. Those aboard included 156 Indonesian nationals, three people from South Korea and one each from Malaysia, Singapore and France, the airline said.

The captain had amassed 6,100 flying hours and the first officer had 2,275 flying hours, the statement said. The aircraft had last undergone scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16.

Singapore civil aviation authorities said they had offered assistance to Indonesia in the search mission, including naval and air force units. A waiting area had been set up for relatives and friends of the passengers at Singapore’s Changi Airport.

The flight path from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, to Singapore goes directly over the Java Sea, a narrow body of water along the northern coasts of the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra.

AirAsia Indonesia is the Jakarta-based affiliate of AirAsia, a Malaysian low-cost air carrier that operates mainly short-haul flights across Southeast Asia.

The region has already seen two air tragedies this year, both involving rival Malaysia Airlines. Malaysia Air Flight 370 vanished in March with 239 people aboard while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing; the search for the plane continues off the coast of Australia.

Malaysia Air Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 passengers and crew. Ukrainian and U.S. intelligence officials believe Russia-backed Ukrainian separatists were to blame.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a Twitter statement that he was “very sad” about the AirAsia flight.

“My thoughts are with the families,” Razak said. “Malaysia stands ready to help.”

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong tweeted: “My thoughts are with the passengers and their families.”

President Obama, who was vacationing with his family in Hawaii, was briefed on the missing flight, said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.

“White House officials will continue to monitor the situation,” Schultz said.

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