Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the aircraft, flight number QZ 8501, lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6:17 a.m local time. (6.17 p.m. EST).
The Airbus 320-200 had 155 passengers and crew on board, another Indonesian Transport official said.
Mustofa said the plane had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact.
(via BI)
This is a developing story, return to this post for updates.
UPDATE 1
Before communication was lost, AirAsia Flight 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. (Via CNN)
Bad weather was in evidence in the region at the time, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
UPDATE 2
"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."
But 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 U.S. Department of Transportation. "So whether there was (bad) weather in the area would not be a mystery." (Via CNN)
UPDATE 3
Statement from AirAsia:
AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24 (Surabaya LT) this morning. The flight took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 0535hours.
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
1 France
3 South Korean
156 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 enroute 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.
AirAsia will release further information as soon as it becomes available. Updated information will also be posted on the AirAsia website, www.airasia.com.
UPDATE 4
De terribles conditions météo pour le dernier contact radar de #QZ8501 #AirAsia pic.twitter.com/6hqov0ve0s
— Breaking 3.0 (@Breaking3zero) December 28, 2014
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