Closing summary
- Indonesian search and rescue teams are to resume operations at 6am local time on Monday, or earlier, depending on the weather. The search for AirAsia flight QZ8501 was suspended due to darkness. The US, Australia and India are among the countries to have offered help in the search.
- The Briton on board the AirAsia flight has been named as Chi Man Choi, a businessman. He is thought to have been travelling with his daughter, Zoe, on tickets bought on Boxing Day. He is believed to hold a British passport but lives in Singapore with his family.
- AirAsia said that the plane, flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, lost contact with air traffic control at 7.24am local time when it was about halfway to its destination.
- Indonesian transport officials say the crew asked to ascend to 38,000ft to avoid bad weather shortly before contact was lost. No distress call was made. There are reports that rescue teams are searching an area 145km from the island of Belitung, which lies between Sumatra and Borneo.
- 162 people are on board the A320-200, including seven crew. The passengers and crew include 156 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one French, one Malaysian and one Singaporean, according to AirAsia. The pilot has been named as Iriyanto, while the copilot been named as Remi Emmanuel Plesel.
British national aboard flight QZ8501 named
The Briton on board the AirAsia flight QZ8501 has been named as Chi Man Choi. He is thought to have been travelling with his daughter, Zoe, on tickets bought on Boxing Day. He is believed to hold a British passport but lives in Singapore with his family. Channel News Asia has more details:
According to a copy of the passenger manifest released to Indonesian media, Mr Choi and Zoe bought their tickets on Friday (Dec 26). According to the manifest, they were seated in the first row, in Seats 1B and 1C.
According to his LinkedIn account, Mr Choi was born at Hull in Yorkshire, England, and graduated from the University of Essex in 1988.
He was Unit Managing Director for Thermal Services at energy firm Alstom Power, a position he held since July this year. Prior to that, he was based in Singapore, where he was a senior executive at Alstom Grid, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Channel NewsAsia understands that Mr Choi’s wife had travelled back to Singapore from Surabaya earlier with Zoe’s older brother.
US National Transportation Safety Board 'ready to assist'
A US NTSB spokesman said the agency is monitoring the search for the missing AirAsia plane and stands “ready to assist the Indonesians if needed”.
My colleague, Alexandra Topping (@LexyTopping), has a roundup on reaction from families in Singapore and Indonesia.
Frantic relatives and friends of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ8501 have gathered at crisis centres at Juanda international airport in Indonesia and Changi airport, Singapore, desperately waiting for news about the missing plane.
The centres were set up in the hours following the disappearance of the AirAsia aircraft, which vanished from radar in Indonesian airspace on Sunday morning while on its way to Singapore.
At Changi airport, anxious relatives were kept apart from a large press pack, but one Indonesian national told the waiting media that she was waiting for news of her fiance, whom she identified as a 27-year-old entrepreneur called Alain and who she said was on board the flight along with five family members.
Louise Sidharta, 25, said she and her partner had taken separate flights from Surabaya to Singapore, and she only found out about the missing aircraft upon arriving in Singapore on a later flight, reported AFP. She told reporters she was hoping for the best and urged everyone to “think positive thoughts”. “This was supposed to be his last trip with his family before we got married,” she added.
You can read her story in full here.
Updated
Kirsten Han (@kixes), a Singaporean journalist, describes the scene at Changi airport, where relatives of the missing passengers are anxiously awaiting news.
AirAsia flight QZ8501 was meant to land in Singapore at 8:30 in the morning on 28 December. It never arrived.
It had lost contact with air traffic controllers in Jakarta not long after taking off from Surabaya in East Java, and vanished somewhere between Pontianak in West Kalimantan and Tanjung Pandan in Belitung Island. 162 people were on board; 155 passengers and seven crew members.
As night falls over Singapore, the QZ8501 listing has finally been removed from arrival boards in Singapore’s bustling Changi airport. Earlier it had read “go to info counter”, in sharp contrast to all the other flights that were upgraded from “confirmed” to “landed”.
Airport staff quickly established a private “relatives holding area” (RHA) for family and friends of the missing passengers. The entrance is cordoned off, and guarded by security officers to protect the anxious relatives from prying eyes.
Just beyond the cordon the press corps wait, eager for news and updates. Without any press conferences or media briefings, reporters are desperate for any tidbit that they can find. Any next-of-kin found outside the private area is swiftly surrounded by a media scrum, microphones and cameras shoved in their faces.
This was how Louise Sidharta found herself surrounded by journalists, eager to hear her story. The 25-year-old Indonesian’s fiancé was on the flight, along with his parents and other relatives: a fact that she had found out over the radio this morning.
“They say we just need to wait until we have more updates,” she told the press shortly before being ushered into the holding area. According to a press statement by the Changi Airport Group (CAG), 47 family and friends of 57 passengers are waiting for news behind the cordon and screens.
Beyond the impatient journalists lined up against the walls texting their editors and updating live blogs, the rest of Changi Airport carries on business as usual. Families take photos before the elaborate Christmas decorations, and travellers continue to queue at the check-in counters, including AirAsia’s.
Travellers speak of sadness and sympathy for the tragedy, but none I spoke to said they would reconsider travelling with AirAsia. Just before 9pm a CAG spokesman informed the press that all next-of-kin had been moved from the holding area, leaving from another exit away from the press. 16 people took up the offer to fly to Surabaya to join the many other waiting relatives there, he said. The rest chose either to return home or stay in a hotel.
With the search and rescue operations – and by extension, the media briefings – spearheaded by Indonesia, information is sparse in Changi airport. We know that Singapore has offered help to Indonesia: one C130 aircraft has since been launched, with two more planes to set off tomorrow morning.
An officer from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) will also send an officer to assist in the coordination of search and locate efforts, said a statement from CAAS.
Singapore’s Ministry of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau also offered two teams of specialists and two sets of underwater locator beacon detectors to assist in the search, said CAAS.
Among the missing passengers is also one British national, travelling with his two-year-old Singaporean daughter. Their family were contacted earlier and present at the RHA.
Updated
From our graphics team.
Lunchtime summary
- Indonesian search and rescue teams looking for passengers - including a Briton - on board missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 have suspended air operations due to darkness. The search will resume at 6am local time or earlier depending on the weather. Australia and India have offered to help in the search.
-
AirAsia said its flight Qz8501, flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, lost contact with air traffic control at 7.24am local time when it was about halfway to its destination. 162 people are on board the A320-200, including seven crew.
- The passengers and crew include 156 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one French, one Malaysian and one Singaporean, according to AirAsia. The pilot has been named as Iriyanto, while the copilot been named as Remi Emmanuel Plesel.
- Indonesian transport officials say the crew asked to ascend to 38,000ft to avoid bad weather shortly before contact was lost. No distress call was made. There are reports that rescue teams are searching an area 145km from the island of Belitung, which lies between Sumatra and Borneo.
David Learmount, Flight Global’s operations and safety editor, tells the Press Association that the chance of finding survivors is slim.
He said it was “routine” for pilots to request diversions when approaching stormy conditions, as was the case with the Airbus A320-200.
“We’re not just talking about thunder and lightning here,” he said. “Storms can be very, very powerful indeed and rip a medium-sized aeroplane completely apart. That’s why a pilot will routinely ask to divert around them. The plane could not still be airborne - it was a short-haul flight, there would be no fuel for staying in the air for quite as long as this.”
Learmount, who is a pilot, also ruled out the likelihood of passengers surviving a sea landing.
“The pilots were talking to air traffic control right until the last minute. Something distracted their attention so they were no longer able to keep talking. We don’t know what happened at the moment, and it doesn’t appear to be a deliberate act. We can speculate ad infinitum when the only thing we can go on is that it is missing. But I think the prognosis is not good.”
Updated
Louise Sidharta, 25, told reporters that her fiance, Alain, was on the plane with five family members. “This was supposed to be his last trip with his family before we got married.” The video is from Channel NewsAsia.
AP reports that the disappearance of an AirAsia jet is the latest air incident for Indonesia as it struggles to provide enough qualified pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and updated airport technology to ensure safety. It lists some of the recent crashes.
April 2013: A brand new Boeing 737-800 operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air crashes off the Indonesian resort island of Bali, slamming into the ocean short of the runway while attempting to land in the rain. All 108 people on board survived, and there were no serious injuries. It was Lion Air’s seventh accident since 2002.
May 2012: A Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet-100 crashes into a volcano during a demonstration flight in Indonesia, killing all 45 people on board. Information recovered from the plane’s cockpit-voice and flight data recorders indicated the pilot in command was chatting with a potential buyer in the cockpit just before the plane slammed into dormant Mount Salak in West Java province.
January 2007: A Boeing 737 operated by Indonesia’s Adam Air vanishes on New Year’s Day on a domestic flight from Surabaya to Manado with 102 people aboard. Parts of the tail and other debris are found several days later, but it would take nearly nine months for the flight-data and cockpit recorders to be recovered. The fuselage is still on the ocean floor.
September 2005: A flight from Indonesia’s now-defunct Mandala Airlines is headed from Medan in north Sumatra to Bali when the plane crashes into a heavily populated residential area seconds after taking off, killing 149 people. The fatalities included 100 people aboard the plane and 49 on the ground. Seventeen people on the plane survived.
December 1997: All 104 people onboard are killed when a plane operated by Singapore-based SilkAir crashes into the Musi River in southern Sumatra en route from Jakarta to Singapore. U.S. investigators said that the pilot probably crashed on purpose, but an Indonesian investigation was inconclusive.
September 1997: An Airbus A300 operated by national carrier Garuda Indonesia crashes while approaching Medan Airport, killing all 234 people aboard. The plane, which had taken off from Jakarta, crashed into a mountainous, wooded area in low visibility.
From AFP: AirAsia says the missing jet last underwent maintenance on 16 November. The company was founded in 1996 and has never suffered a fatal accident in its 18-year history.
Updated
The Jakarta Post reports that the Indonesian vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, is leading the search for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501.
Kalla arrived on Sunday evening at the headquarters of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) in Kemayoran, north Jakarta, to directly supervise and lead the operation.
“We’re mobilising all personnel to find the plane. Our focus is to find it as soon as possible,” he said.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who is on a trip to Sorong, Papua, has instructed the transportation minister Ignasius Jonan to provide prompt updates to the public regarding the search attempt.
“I’ve already instructed Basarnas, the Indonesian military [TNI], and the National Police to go all out in this search,” he said.
Updated
Tatang Zaenuddin of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue agency has told Reuters that the search operation will resume at 6am on Monday.
Updated
Search for missing AirAsia plane halted for the day
Reports are coming in that the search for flight QZ8501, which disappeared with 162 people on board, has ended for now as darkness falls.
#BREAKING Search halted for the day for missing AirAsia plane, says Indonesia
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) December 28, 2014
Updated
Australia ready to help with P3 Orion search plane
Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, has spoken to the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo. He said an Australian P3 Orion aircraft was on standby ready to help in the search.
Prime Minister @TonyAbbottMHR has spoken to the Indonesian President Joko Widodo over @AirAsia flight #QZ8501. #9News pic.twitter.com/ufbGM2S4X6
— Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) December 28, 2014
A series of tweets from AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes, who says this is his worst nightmare.
Our priority is looking after all the next of Kin for my staff and passangers. We will do whatever we can. ... http://t.co/6BFsUR7zDS
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014
I as your group ceo will be there through these hard times. We will go through this terrible ordeal together ... http://t.co/6iO2zKcFzN
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014
To all my staff Airasia all stars be strong, continue to be the best. Pray hard. Continue to do your best for all our guests. See u all soon
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014
I am touched by the massive show of support especially from my fellow airlines. This is my worse nightmare. But there is no stopping.
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014
The Telegraph has this profile of Tony Fernandes, who bought the heavily indebted AirAsia from a company owned by the Malaysian government for just 25p in 2001.
He had no experience of running an airline, but this did not deter him and he set about transforming the carrier into a short-haul low cost airline in the mould of those recently established in the West.
In 2002, AirAsia had only two aircraft in the air, but under Mr Fernandes the company expanded rapidly and by the end of the decade it was flying 30 million passengers around the world on 86 planes.
But the 50-year-old businessman did not stop at airlines. After entering Formula 1 racing in 2010, buying a team called Lotus Racing (now called Caterham), the lifelong football fan became owner of Queen’s Park Rangers, the Premier League club, in 2011.
You can read the piece in full here.
One man on this video says he is hoping for a miracle and that all aboard will be saved. He was supposed to fly on the AirAsia plane but cancelled two weeks ago.
The scene at Changi airport in Singapore.
France’s foreign and international development ministries have issued a joint statement saying the family of the French co-pilot has been informed of the disappearance of the AirAsia plane. He was named earlier as Remi Emmanuel Plesel. The statement says France is in close touch with the Singaporean and Indonesian authorities on the search efforts.
Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing has sent in a roundup on the disappearance of AirAsia flight QZ8501.
An AirAsia passenger jet with 162 people on board disappeared during a flight between Indonesia and Singapore on Sunday morning, prompting an international search and rescue operation.
AirAsia flight QZ8501, an Airbus 320-200 passenger jet, took off from the Indonesian metropolis Surabaya at 5:27 AM, and lost all contact with air control at 7:24 am as it travelled along its regular flight path, according to the flight tracking website FlightRadar24. The aircraft had earlier requested to deviate from the path “due to en route weather,” according to a statement on AirAsia’s Facebook page. It did not send out a distress signal.
The pilot requested that he turn left and rise from 34,000 to 38,000 feet, Djoko Murjatmodjo, the acting director general of Air Transport at Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation, told reporters. “At the moment, we don’t know where the exact location is, except that this morning at 0617, we lost contact,” he said.
On Sunday afternoon, AirAsia changed the colour of its logo on social media sites to gray, and the company CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted that he was travelling to the metropolis Surabaya, the home of many of the jet’s passengers. “Providing information as we get it,” he wrote.
Those onboard included two pilots, five cabin crew members and 155 passengers. Among them, 156 were from Indonesia, three from South Korea, and one each from Singapore, France and Malaysia. The passenger list included 16 children and one infant. Relatives of passengers and crew have gathered for news briefings in Surabaya and Singapore.
Airbus said in a statement that the aircraft was delivered to AirAsia “from the production line” in October 2008, and had “accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights.” The statement continued: “At this time, no further factual information is available”.
Indonesia’s army and national Search and Rescue Agency have launched a search effort for the plane’s wreckage focusing on an area of the Java Sea near Belitung, an island off of the east coast of Sumatra. They have dispatched three aircraft including a surveillance plane, according to Air Force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto. Malaysia and Australia have also offered their help, and Singapore has dispatched a C130 turboprop plane for assistance.
“My only thought are with the (passengers) and my crew,” Fernandes wrote in a later tweet. “We put our hope in the SAR operation and thank the Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysian governments.”
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a press briefing that China is “deeply concerned” for the safety of the jet’s passengers and crew. Barack Obama, currently on holiday in Hawaii, has been briefed on the jet’s disappearance, according to White House spokesperson Eric Schultz. South Korean government officials, responding to the news that three South Korean citizens were onboard the plane, have called an emergency meeting at the country’s foreign ministry in Seoul.
The UK Foreign Office ministry said in a statement: “We are aware of an incident regarding AirAsia flight QZ8501. Our thoughts are with the passengers’ families as they await further news. We have been informed by the local authorities that one British national was on board. Their next of kin has been informed, and we stand ready to provide consular assistance.”
AirAsia is a budget airline headquartered near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sunday’s incident marks the third sudden disappearance of a Malaysian carrier this year. On 8 March, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished while carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing; although investigators suspect that it crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, they have found no wreckage, and the jet’s fate remains unclear. In July, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 lost contact when it was shot down over Ukraine, ostensibly by Russian separatists, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.
Airbus statement on disappearance of Flight QZ 8501
This is Mark Tran (@marktran) taking over from Oliver Milman in Australia. Airbus has issued this statement with details of of the A320-200 that has disappeared. The plane, which was delivered to AirAsia in 2008, had 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights.
Airbus regrets to confirm that an A320-200 operated by AirAsia Indonesia lost contact with air traffic control this morning, 28th December 2014. The aircraft was operating a scheduled service, Flight QZ 8501, from Surabaya to Singapore.
The aircraft involved is MSN (Manufacturer Serial Number) 3648, registered as PK-AXC and was delivered to AirAsia from the production line in October 2008. Powered by CFM 56-5B engines, the aircraft had accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights. At this time no further factual information is available.
In line with the ICAO Annex 13 international convention, Airbus will provide full assistance to the French safety investigation authority, BEA, and to the authorities in charge of the investigation.
The Airbus A320-200 is a twin-engine single-aisle aircraft seating up to 180 passengers in a single-class configuration. The first A320 entered service in March 1988. By the end of November 2014, over 6000 A320 Family aircraft were in service with over 300 operators. To date, the entire fleet has accumulated some 154 million flight hours in some 85 million flights.
Airbus will make further factual information available as soon as the details have been confirmed and cleared by the authorities.
The thoughts of the Airbus management and staff are with all those affected by Flight QZ 8501.
Updated
The UK Foreign Office has confirmed that a Briton was on board flight QZ8501. A spokesman said:
We are aware of an incident regarding AirAsia flight QZ8501. Our thoughts are with the passengers’ families as they await further news.
We have been informed by the local authorities that one British national was on board. Their next of kin has been informed, and we stand ready to provide consular assistance.
Updated
I’m preparing to hand this blog over to my UK colleagues. Thanks for joining me for the developments as they unfolded today. As we poke at the dying embers of 2014 it’s clear that, sadly, we haven’t been short of various travails and traumas to cover in this fashion of late.
Anyway, to recap -
- 162 people were on board AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore, which lost contact with air traffic control this morning.
- A search and rescue operation, spearheaded by Singapore and Indonesia, is under way. Malaysia and Australia have offered help.
- The flight was looking to divert from its intended path, in the face of stormy weather, shortly before losing contact off the coast of West Kalimantan.
- Relatives of those on board have been gathering for briefings in Surabaya and Singapore.
Updated
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore has confirmed that it is linking up with Indonesian authorities to help locate the missing plane. Australia and Malaysia have also offered assistance.
The authority’s statement reads:
Indonesia has accepted Singapore’s offer to assist in the search and locate efforts of the missing Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, QZ8501.
The Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and supported by various agencies, including the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), had offered assistance to BASARNAS, the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency, at 0930 hours local time, this morning.
We have offered our planes and ships to assist in the search, and received confirmation from the Indonesian authorities this afternoon at 1430 hours to accept our offer, requesting for one C130 for now. We have already launched it to assist with the search and locate efforts.
The Indonesia AirAsia flight went missing this morning, more than 200 nautical miles southeast of the Singapore-Jakarta Flight Information Region boundary.
From Jon Kaiman, the Guardian’s man in Beijing:
By now, the plane would have exhausted its fuel supply, and foreign governments have begun to send messages of support. Singapore, Malaysia and Australia have offered to help in the search effort.
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a press briefing that China is “deep concerned” for the safety of the jet’s passengers and crew. Barack Obama has been briefed on the jet’s disappearance, a White House spokesperson said.
Updated
Tony Fernandes, chief executive of AirAsia and chairman of the English football club QPR, has said on Twitter that he is heading to Indonesia.
On my way to Surabaya where most of the passangers are from as with my Indonesian management. Providing information as we get it.
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014
My only thought are with the passangers and my crew.We put our hope in the SAR operation and ... http://t.co/m95Ei6OnEP
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014
He adds in a slightly longer statement: “My only thought are with the passengers and my crew. We put our hope in the SAR operation and thank the Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysian governments.”
SAR is search and rescue, presumably.
Updated
Joko Widodo, Indonesia’s president, has given a press conference on the missing plane.
His wife Iriana tweeted a comment that translates in English as: “The president prays that the entire crew and passengers of AirAsia QZ8501 can be found safely.”
Presiden mendoakan agar seluruh kru dan penumpang pesawat AirAsia QZ8501 bisa ditemukan dlm keadaan selamat #Konpres pic.twitter.com/1eAH0I1Pcw
— Iriana Joko Widodo (@IrianaJokowi) December 28, 2014
According to the Guardian’s Indonesia contributor Kate Lamb, the president has been in West Papua to attend Christmas celebrations in the provincial capital, Jayapura. After Christmas Day celebrations Jokowi was scheduled to attend three other towns in Papua during his trip.
Updated
What we know so far
- A search and rescue operation is under way near Indonesia for a missing aircraft.
- AirAsia said its flight Qz8501, flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, lost contact with air traffic control at 7.24am local time.
- 162 people are on board the A320-200, including seven crew.
- The passengers and crew include 156 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one French person, one Malaysian and one Singaporean, according to AirAsia.
- The pilot has been named as Iriyanto, while the copilot been named as Remi Emmanuel Plesel.
- Indonesian transport officials say the crew asked to ascend to 38,000ft to avoid bad weather shortly before contact was lost. No distress call was made.
- There are reports that rescue teams are searching an area 145km from the island of Belitung, which lies between Sumatra and Borneo.
- AirAsia has set up a hotline for those concerned about family and friends on the flight - +622129850801
- Julie Bishop, Australia’s foreign minister, says she understands there are no Australians on board but has offered Australian help for the search and rescue mission.
Updated
Indonesian transport officials have confirmed the pilot’s name as Iriyanto (Indonesians often go by a single name). The copilot, who is French, has been named as Remi Emmanuel Plesel.
Officials said that no distress call was made prior to contact being lost with the plane.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s transport minister has visited AirAsia’s headquarters.
Currently at @airasia HQ to support our team in this moment of crisis. Let us lend our support to them #PrayForQZ8501 pic.twitter.com/R4k69tbyoL
— Liow Tiong Lai (@liowtionglai) December 28, 2014
Updated
Some further information on the earlier reports that the plane came down near the island of Belitung.
The Jakarta Globe is quoting an Indonesian national search and rescue agency official who has said a rescue team has been sent to an area around 145km from the island after reports the AirAsia plane “circled over the sea near Belitung to avoid a storm before it experienced severe turbulence and crashed into the ocean”.
It’s important to note this scenario has not been postulated by other Indonesian officials as yet.
Updated
The stormy weather in the region of the flight path is being mentioned as a possible factor in the plane’s disappearance, although some aviation experts have taken to the media to point out that pilots regularly deal with these kinds of conditions.
Indonesian transport officials have said the crew asked to ascend to 38,000ft due to cloudy conditions shortly before air traffic control lost contact with the plane.
Aviation journalist John Walton has tweeted a picture of the approximate last known location of the flight, overlaid with a map of weather conditions at the time. The darker the colour, the more stormy the weather.
Approximate last location of #QZ8501, plotted on weather image from @EarthUncutTV. pic.twitter.com/iHknp2AK8V
— John Walton (@thatjohn) December 28, 2014
Updated
Julie Bishop, Australia’s foreign minister, says she’s been in touch with her counterparts from Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia.
“We’ve offered whatever assistance the Indonesian government may seek, we’ve expressed deep concern for the passengers and crew,” says Bishop. “We hope and pray there will be survivors.”
Bishop says she understands there are no Australians on board the flight although the passenger manifests are being sought.
She then says Australia has offered to help the search and rescue operation, which is already under way, for the plane.
Updated
Revised list of nationalities on board
The breakdown of nationalities on board flight QZ8501 has been revised again by AirAsia on its Facebook page. It now stands at:
1 Singapore
1 Malaysia
1 France
3 South Korea
156 Indonesia
Updated
Screen at Changi T1 showing the details of the @AirAsia #QZ8501 bound for Singapore from Surabaya that lost contact. pic.twitter.com/93VcqXsy8H
— The Straits Times (@STcom) December 28, 2014
Sad, anxious times at Singapore airport
Airport staff holds up a sign at Changi's T2 to direct family members & friends seeking info on @AirAsia #QZ8501. pic.twitter.com/m6gM8JcdMJ
— The Straits Times (@STcom) December 28, 2014
The Singapore prime minister voices his sympathies:
Saddened to hear of missing flight #QZ8501. My thoughts are with the passengers and their families. - LHL
— Lee Hsien Loong (@leehsienloong) December 28, 2014
Updated
A press conference has just been held at the Juanda international airport in Surabaya, the Indonesian city where the AirAsia departed from, bound for Singapore before going missing.
From Guardian’s Jakarta contributor Kate Lamb:
According to Djoko Atmojo, acting director general of transportation -
At 6.12am the plane made contact asking to ascend to 38,000ft because of cloud.
At 6.16am the plane was still on the radar.
At 6.18 am the plane went missing from the radar.
Last position of the plane was between Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak. 155 passengers, 7 cabin crew.
Updated
When it went missing, the plane still had enough fuel for four hours flying time: Transport spokesman #AirAsia
— Michael Bachelard (@mbachelard) December 28, 2014
AirAsia statement on passenger and crew
AirAsia has put out a revised statement with some details of the 162 passengers and crew on board flight QZ8501.
The airline says there are 157 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Malaysian and one Singaporean on board. This contradicts previous PA reports of a Briton on board.
AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 0724 (Surabaya LT) this morning. The flight took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 0535 hours.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. There were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board.
The captain in command had a total of 6,100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2,275 flying hours.
There were 155 passengers on board, with 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots and 5 cabin crew.
Nationalities of passengers and crew onboard are as below:
1 Singapore
1 Malaysia
3 South Korean
157 Indonesia
At this time, search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of the Indonesia of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). AirAsia Indonesia is cooperating fully and assisting the investigation in every possible way.
The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to en route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control of the Indonesian Air Traffic Control (ATC).
The aircraft had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on 16 November 2014.
AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: +622129850801.
Updated
According to local media, most of the passengers on the plane are Indonesian. There is one Briton, according to Associated Press:
A Briton is on board an AirAsia plane which has gone missing on its way from Indonesia to Singapore.
The British person is among six crew and 155 passengers on flight QZ8501, the general manager of Surabaya’s Juanda airport told the Associated Press.
There are no reports of any Australians on the plane. Nevertheless, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs has set up a hotline for anyone who has concerns about friends and family on board: 1300 555 135
DFAT has set up an emergency number for any Australians who are concerned that relatives or friends are on #QZ8501. 1300 555 135 (1/2)
— Naomi Woodley (@naomiwoodley) December 28, 2014
Updated
The Indonesian air force has said it is using the last known point of contact with the plane as the basis for its search. The Singapore rescue coordination centre, the Singapore air force and Singapore navy are assisting.
This tweet from AirAsia’s chief executive Tony Fernandes:
We will be putting out another statement soon. Thank you for all your thoughts and prays.we must stay strong.
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) December 28, 2014
Updated
Jakarta-based Guardian contributor Kate Lamb says the Indonesian media outlet Kompas is reporting that the plane crashed in Belitung, an island between Java and Sumatra. The report, which has yet to be confirmed by officials, is here.
Lamb adds that East Belitung Water Police are “currently coordinating with local fishermen to determine which boats have passed through the areas in which the plane might have crashed”.
A press conference with the Malaysian transport minister is due shortly.
Updated
Singapore’s Civil Aviation Authority has put out a statement:
An Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, QZ8501, scheduled to arrive at 0830 hours local time from Surabaya, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 0724 hours local time today. Singapore air traffic control was informed of this loss of contact at 0754 hours by Jakarta air traffic control. The aircraft was in the Indonesian Flight Information Region (FIR) when contact was lost, more than 200 nm southeast of the Singapore-Jakarta FIR boundary.
Search and rescue operations have been activated by the Indonesian authorities from the Pangkal Pinang Search and Rescue office.
The Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and supported by various agencies, including the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), has also been activated and has offered help to the Indonesian authorities. Two C130s are already on stand-by for this purpose. We remain ready to provide any assistance to support the search and rescue effort.
The CAAS and Changi Airport Group (CAG) Crisis Management Centres have already been activated. We are working with the airline’s crisis management team.
A waiting area, and all necessary facilities and support have been set up for relatives and friends of the affected passengers at Changi Airport Terminal 2 (Level 3).
According to FlightRadar, a site that tracks airlines’ movements across the globe, flight QZ8501 was at 32,000ft when it lost contact with air traffic control. Bad weather was reported in the area.
Indonesia AirAsia #QZ8501 was flying at 32000 feet over Java Sea when ADS-B signal was lost pic.twitter.com/Xqy2lDkRnJ
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 28, 2014
First reports on the missing plane indicate there are 155 passengers, including 16 children and one baby, as well as seven crew.
The Jakarta Globe is reporting that the passengers comprise 149 Indonesians, 3 South Koreans, 1 Malaysian, 1 Singaporean and 1 English national. This is still to be officially confirmed.
Anyone concerned they may know someone on the plane can call the emergency hotline established by AirAsia - +622129850801
AirAsia, a Malaysian-based low-cost airline, has issued the following statement on the missing flight.
AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning.
At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.
At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.
AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: +622129850801.
AirAsia will release further information as soon as it becomes available. Updated information will also be posted on the AirAsia website, www.airasia.com.
Updated
Welcome to this Guardian live blog. A search and rescue operation is underway after an AirAsia flight lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday morning.
Transport ministry official Hadi Mustofa, an official at Indonesia’s transport ministry, told local media that flight QZ8501 lost contact at around 6.17am local time.
The flight, which was heading from Indonesia to Singapore, was due to land at 8.30am local time. It’s now 12.20pm in Singapore.
