JAKARTA — The AirAsia flight bound for Singapore was last seen on the radar at 6.18am after it requested permission to ascend to a higher altitude to avoid bad weather, an Indonesian aviation official said on Sunday.
An airport official checks a map of Indonesia at the crisis centre set up for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. (AP photo)
Djoko Murjatmojo, director general for air transportation at the Transportation Ministry, said AirAsia flight QZ8501 was flying at 32,000 feet (9,753 metres) when it contacted air traffic control in Jakarta requesting to change altitude to 38,000 feet.
At 6.16am, the flight was still seen in the radar but two minutes later it had disappeared, he said.
"After 50 minutes of search, at 7.08am the flight was declared missing and a distress call was issued," he said.
Murjatmojo said the plane's last known location was somewhere between Pontianak in West Kalimantan and Tanjung Pandan in Belitung Island near Sumatra.
"We can't assume anything at the moment. Our temporary assumption so far is that the flight has lost contact." Murjatmojo said.
Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa told Indonesian media that the aircraft had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact.
Mustofa said the Airbus 320 plane was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8.30am.
The plane departed from Surabaya in East Java Sunday morning with 155 passengers and seven crew on board.
Thailand's Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said no Thais were aboard AirAsia's flight QZ8501 that lost contact on Sunday.
Thai embassies in Indonesia and Singapore confirmed the report, he said.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry announced that three South Koreans were among the passengers.
The captain in command had a total of 6,100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2,275 flying hours.
Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesman JA Barata said the co-pilot of the missing flight is a French citizen.
He identifies the co-pilot as Remi Emmanuel Plesel.
The aircraft had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on Nov 16, 2014.
Source: Malaysiakini
William Waldock, an expert on air crash search and rescue with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, cautioned against drawing comparisons to the disappearance of Malaysia flight 370.
"I think we have to let this play out," he said. "Hopefully, the airplane will get found, and if that happens it will probably be in the next few hours. Until then, we have to reserve judgment."
The circumstances bode well for finding the plane since the intended flight time was less than two hours and there is a known position at which the plane disappeared, he said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, expressed solidarity with AirAsia. In a tweet he said. "Very sad to hear that AirAsia Indonesia QZ8501 is missing. My thoughts are with the families. Malaysia stands ready to help."
President Barack Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii, was briefed Sunday evening on the plane's disappearance, and White House officials were tracking the situation, the White House said.
AirAsia has been consistently recognised as among the world's best low-cost airlines by industry analysts.
The AirAsia Group is comprised of affiliates Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Berhad (Malaysia), AirAsia Indonesia, Philippines' AirAsia, and AirAsia India among others.
The group operates a total of 158 aircraft, all Airbus 320s. It transported 42.6 million passengers to 83 destinations in 17 countries in 2013.
It is the fifth-largest airline in Asia by fleet and passenger numbers.