AirAsia flight goes missing over Indonesian waters

AirAsia Malaysia CEO tells AA company undertaking search, rescue operations after plane loses contact over Java Sea. By Rochimawati & Ainur Rohmah JAKARTA (AA) – An AirAsia plane has lost contact with air traffic control while traveling from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people onboard. Djoko Murjatmojo, director of Indonesia’s Air Transport Ministry, told reporters search and rescue operations for flight QZ8501 were focusing on the Java Sea area between Beltung island, off the east coast of Sumatra island, and Kalimantan province, Borneo island. The Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control at around 06:24 Indonesia time Sunday. According to FlightRadar24, a flight tracking service site, the plane had been flying at 32,000 feet over Java Sea. Murjatmojo said the flight’s pilot had requested to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds cover at 06.12 a.m, before the aircraft’s signal disappeared at around 34,000 feet. The National Search and Rescue Agency has deployed ships and helicopters to the area between Belitung and Kalimantan’s capital Pontianak, the National Search and Rescue Agency’s Jakarta chief said at a press conference. "Our focus is looking along the beach, not into the sea, positions around Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak," Sutrisno – who like many Indonesians uses only one name – was quoted as saying by the Kompas.com news website. The Ministry of Marine and Fisheries, the naval air force, and Singapore and Malaysia are cooperating in the search efforts. "We expect that before seven days, the plane has to be found," he added. AirAsia’s chief executive, Tony Fernandes, and other top personnel could not be reached for comment. AirAsia Malaysia CEO Aireen Omar told AA the company is saddened by the latest development, and is doing its best in undertaking search and rescue operations. She, however, did not provide additional comments, saying the company would only communicate via official statements. AirAsia released a statement on the passengers and crew saying that the 155 passengers included 138 adults, 16 children and an infant and that the crew was composed of two pilots and five cabin crew. While 157 of them were Indonesians, three were from South Korea, and one each from Singapore, Malaysia and France. The statement added that the plane was on the submitted flight plan route and had requested an alternate route due to weather conditions. The Jakarta Post cited an official from the National Search and Rescue Agency as saying the flight is believed to have crashed approximately 145 kilometers from Belitung. Supriandi, the agency’s spokesperson in Bangka Island’s Pangkalpinang city, is quoted as saying the aircraft had circled over the sea before experiencing severe turbulence. The flight had departed from Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, East Java at 5:35 a.m. Indonesia time and was expected to arrive at Singapore Airport at 08.30 a.m. Singapore time. According to Singapore’s Civil Aviation Authority, signals were lost as the plane was in Indonesia’s Flight Information Region (FIR) and more than 200 nautical miles southeast of the Singapore-Jakarta FIR boundary. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla posted a message on Twitter hoping for the safety of the passengers. AirAsia, a low-cost carrier established by Tony Fernandes 14 years ago, has a positive safety record and has not reported any missing flights or crashes previously. Based in Kuala Lumpur, it began operations with short-distance flights to local destinations, but later expanded to regional hubs throughout Asia. Its operations have been registered in different countries as subsidiaries of the AirAsia group, such as Thai AirAsia and AirAsia Indonesia. Sunday’s incident is the third faced by a Southeast Asian airline this year. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing March 8 en route to Beijing with 239 passengers, including 12 crewmembers, on board after losing radio contact with Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control after leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Despite the most intensive search in commercial aviation history, Malaysia's efforts have been heavily criticized by media and the family of passengers. The troubled airlines suffered another blow when flight MH17 crashed July 17 in Ukraine’s Donetsk region near the border with Russia, killing all 298 people – 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers -- aboard. Neither of the parties involved in armed disturbances in the area -- Ukraine or pro-Russian rebels -- have come forward to claim responsibility for the suspected attack. * AA correspondent P Prem Kumar contributed to this report from Kuala Lumpur