The search for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 passengers, including 17 children, was yesterday called off for poor visibility. The aircraft lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control early yesterday.
Before communication was lost, AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 asked to deviate from its planned flight route — from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore — because of weather conditions, AirAsia said in a statement.
There was conflicting information about when exactly the aircraft went missing. AirAsia said contact was lost at 7:24 a.m. yesterday (7:24 p.m. Saturday ET), but Indonesian aviation authorities said it happened earlier, at 6:17 a.m.
“At this time, search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of the Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority,” AirAsia said.
Of the people on board the Airbus A320-200, 156 are Indonesians, three are South Koreans, a Frenchman, a Malaysian and a Singaporean, the airline said.
Seventeen children, including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven of the people on board are crew members.
“Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. We must stay strong,” AirAsia Chief Executive Tony Fernandes said on Twitter. He later announced he was travelling to Surabaya, saying most of the passengers are from there.
As news of the missing plane spread, the airline changed the colour of its logo on its social media accounts from red to gray.
The Flight 8501 “was requesting deviation due to en route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost,” the airline said.
From the flight tracking websites, almost the entire flight path appeared to be over the sea.
Bad weather was in evidence in the region at the time, Cable Network News (CNN) meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
“We still had lines of very heavy thunderstorms” when the plane was flying, Van Dam said. “But keep in mind, turbulence doesn’t necessarily bring down airplanes,” he added.
CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo questioned whether weather would have been a factor in what happened to the plane.
“Ordinarily, the pilots would get the updated weather from air traffic control and, of course, their onboard radar,” said Schiavo, a former Inspector-General for the United States (US) Department of Transportation. “So whether there was (bad) weather in the area would not be a mystery.”
AirAsia is a Malaysia-based airline that is popular in the region as a budget carrier. It has about 100 destinations, with affiliate companies in several Asian countries.
The missing plane is operated by AirAsia’s Indonesian affiliate, in which the Malaysian company holds a 48.9 per cent stake, according to its website.
The Malaysian government said it was ready to offer assistance to Indonesian and Singaporean authorities.
“Very sad to hear that AirAsia Indonesia QZ8501 is missing,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Twitter. “My thoughts are with the families.”
The loss of contact with the AirAsia plane came 10 months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast Asia on March 8 with 239 people on board.
The Malaysian Airlines plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, lost contact with air traffic control over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Searchers have yet to find any debris from Flight 370, which officials believe crashed in the southern Indian Ocean after veering dramatically off course.
US President Barack Obama has been briefed about the missing AirAsia plane, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said, adding that US officials will continue to monitor the situation.
