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AirAsia plane with 162 on board missing en route to Singapore

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AirAsia plane with 162 on board missing en route to Singapore

AFP
December 28, 2014, 6:40 pm

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Jakarta (AFP) - An AirAsia plane with 162 people on board went missing in bad weather en route from Indonesia to Singapore Sunday morning, the airline said, in the third crisis for a Malaysian carrier this year.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Airbus A320-200 around an hour after it left Juanda international airport in Surabaya in east Java at 5:20am.

It was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30am (0030 GMT).

Shortly before disappearing the aircraft asked permission from air traffic control in Jakarta to track away from its flight plan and climb above adverse weather.

The pilots requested "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)," AirAsia said in a statement on its Facebook page.

The airline said 156 of those on the flight were Indonesians, along with three South Koreans and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and France also missing.

On board were 138 adult passengers, 16 children and an infant, in addition to the two pilots and five cabin crew.

The Indonesian air force said two of its planes had been dispatched to scour an area of the Java Sea, southwest of Pangkalan Bun in Kalimantan province.

"The weather is cloudy and the area is surrounded by sea. We are still on our way so we won't make an assumption on what happened to the plane," said Indonesian air force spokesman Hadi Cahyanto.

The aircraft was operated by AirAsia Indonesia, a unit of Malaysian-based AirAsia which dominates Southeast Asia's booming low cost airline market.

- Search and rescue -

An official from Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot asked to ascend 6,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid heavy clouds.

"The plane is in good condition but the weather is not so good," Djoko Murjatmodjo told a press conference at Jakarta's airport, addressing reports of severe storms in the area where the jet went missing.

Murjatmodjo said search efforts were being focused on an area between Belitung island and Kalimantan, on the western side of the island of Borneo, about halfway along the expected route of Flight QZ8501.

Singapore has offered help from its navy and air force in the hunt for the plane.

The White House said US President Barack Obama had been briefed on the disappearance and that it was monitoring the situation.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago with poor land transport infrastructure, has seen an explosive growth of low-cost air travel over recent years.

But the air industry has been blighted by poor safety standards in an area that also experiences extreme weather -- although AirAsia said the missing jet last underwent maintenance on November 16.

The company swiftly replaced its bright red logo to a grey background on its social media pages.

The plane's disappearance comes at the end of a disastrous year for Malaysian aviation.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, vanished in March after inexplicably diverting from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing course. No trace of the aircraft has been found.

Just months later another Malaysia Airlines plane went down in July in rebellion-torn eastern Ukraine -- believed to have been hit by a surface-to-air missile -- killing all 298 aboard.

Malaysia Airlines posted a message of support to AirAsia on its Twitter page, saying: "Our thoughts and prayers are with all family and friends of those on board QZ8501", along with the hashtag "stay strong".

AirAsia, Asia's budget travel leader, is led by flamboyant boss Tony Fernandes, a former record industry executive who acquired the then-failing airline in 2001.

It has seen spectacular success and aggressive growth under his low-cost, low-overhead model.

While its rival Malaysia Airlines faces potential collapse after two disasters this year, AirAsia confirmed this month its order of 55 A330-900neo passenger planes at a list price of $15 billion.

 

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Massive search and rescue operation underway after AirAsia flight carrying 162 people disappears in storm off the coast of Indonesia where 'wreckage has been spotted'

  • The AirAsia flight departed Indonesia early on Sunday morning
  • It was scheduled to land at Singapore's Changi Airport on Sunday morning
  • The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation said that the plane had contacted Jakarta Air Traffic Control at 6.12am, and lost contact at 6.17am
  • There were 155 passengers on board, and seven airline crew
  • Nationalities of the passengers and crew include Singaporean, Malaysian, French, British, South Korean, and Indonesian
  • Search and rescue operations are underway by Indonesian authorities
  • There are unconfirmed reports of a wreckage being spotted in the Java Sea, 100 miles away from where the planes was last tracked
  • Fishing boats and official vessels have been sent out by Indonesia's national search and rescue body from the closest port to where the plane was last tracked
By Heather Mcnab for Daily Mail Australia and Richard Shears and Lucy Thackray and Louise Cheer
Published: 03:45 GMT, 28 December 2014 | Updated: 10:14 GMT, 28 December 2014

A massive search and rescue operation is under way for a missing Air Asia flight bound for Singapore from Indonesia which lost contact with air traffic control after flying through bad weather.

Fishing boats and official vessels were sent out by Indonesia's national search and rescue authority, along with helicopters and Hercules aircraft from Singapore.

There is an unconfirmed report of a wreckage spotted east of Belitung Island in the Java Sea, 100 miles from where the plane was last tracked.

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An AirAsia flight - which was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC (pictured above) - that departed Surabaya early Sunday morning was meant to land at Changi Airport

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Family and friends arrive at Surabaya airport to learn about their loved ones on-board the missing flight

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The last communication between QZ8501's pilot and air traffic control was when he requested to increase his altitude due to bad weather

Boats have been sent from Tanjung Pandan, the largest town on Belitung Island, but are not expected to reach the area until midnight local time, due to inclement weather and sea conditions, reported The Sun Herald.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 departed Surabaya, in Indonesia, on Sunday at 5.30am local time, and was scheduled to land at Changi Airport, in Singapore, at 8.30am (Singapore local time).

The airline confirmed there were 155 passengers on board - including 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant, and have also stated there were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board.

Nationalities of passengers and crew on-board are one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one French, three South Koreans and 156 Indonesians.

However, the British Foreign Office confirmed today that a British national was on board the flight. It is unclear if the person was a dual-citizen.

A spokesman confirmed the Briton's next of kin had been informed and said: 'Our thoughts are with the passengers' families as they await further news.'

According to Indonesia’s Director of Air Transport, Djoko Murjatmodjo, contact with the aircraft was lost between Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak, a trading port city in west Kalimantan about 100 nautical miles south east of Tanjung Pandan.

AirAsia Indonesia has released a statement on Facebook saying that: '[It] 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,' it said.

'At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.'

Tatang Zaenudin, deputy of personnel at Basarnas, said that the agency was working to approve flights from Australia to aid with the huge operation to locate the plane, reported The Sun Herald.

Air Asia has changed the colour of their logo from red to grey as a mark of respect to the missing plane.

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.

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Malaysia Airlines, who has lost two carrier engines this year, released a tweet in support of Air Asia

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AirAsia have confirmed there were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board

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There were 155 passengers on board - including 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant.

The last communication between QZ8501's pilot and air traffic control was when he requested to increase his altitude due to bad weather.

According to a leaked air traffic control sheet, the plane’s speed had dropped to 353 knots, suggesting it was having trouble climbing, perhaps because of severe weather.

Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas, speaking to Sydney’s Channel Seven tv network, said the fact that the pilots had reportedly not issued a distress call suggested that the aircraft might have suffered a sudden, catastrophic event.

Timeline of Air Asia flight QZ8501



  • Departed Surabaya, Indonesia, at 5.35am local time
  • At 6.12am Indonesian time, the plane's pilot requested to change the travel height of the plane to an altitude of 38,000 feet
  • 6.17am Air Asia flight QZ8501 loses contact with Jakarta Air Traffic Control
  • 6.18am the flight disappears from radar
  • 7.55am the flight is declared missing

Djoko Atmojio, Director General of Aviation, Indonesian Ministry of Transportation said that the plane had contacted Jakarta Air Traffic Control at 6.12am.

'During that contact, the Jakarta Air Traffic Control could still identify the plane on the radar screen,' Mr Atmojito said.

'The plane stated that it was trying to avoid cloud and directed the plane to the left of M635 route and asked to go up to altitude 38,00 feet,' he said.

'We have not received the ELT (distress) signal so our conclusion so far is the plane lost contact at 6.17 a.m.'

The flight was scheduled to take two hours and ten minutes, and the plane lost contact 42 minutes into the flight time.

An A320 pilot writing on the aviation forum Aviation.net said the weather as the Air Asia flight headed north east was ‘nasty’ but he believed that it would not be enough to cause a major structural failure.

‘While the weather on the route looks rather nasty, I have always found that the A320 is a really sold aircraft in turbulence,' the pilot, writing from Canada, said

'I've flown it through bad winter storms, tropical thunderstorms and all sorts of combined weather and I’ve never felt that the aircraft was being held together on a hope and a prayer.'

Indonesian Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the plane had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact.

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Djoko Atmojio, Director General of Aviation, Indonesian Ministry of Transportation said that the plane had contacted Jakarta Air Traffic Control at 6.12am

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The last communication between QZ8501's pilot and air traffic control was when he requested to increase his altitude to 34,000 feet due to bad weather

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There was a lot of wild weather around the area where the flight went missing

A BRIEF HISTORY OF AIRASIA


  • Flight QZ 8501 is operated by Air Asia Indonesia

  • The company was formed in 2001 in KL, Malaysia

  • Joint venture with aviation companies in Thailand, Philippines

  • Impeccable safety record – no incidents since 2001

  • It is a low-cost airline that flies between 22 countries

  • Also travels to Australia, Japan and India

  • AirAsia serves longer haul routes including Bali to Perth and Melbourne

He said the QZ8501 flight lost contact when it was believed to be over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java islands.

The captain-in-command is listed as Captain Iriyanto - many Indonesians use only one name.

According to the airline, he had a total of 6,100 flying hours and the first officer - understood to be French pilot Remi Emmanual Plesel - has a total of 2,275 flying hours.

The four flight attendants are listed as Wanti Setiawati, Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi, Oscar Desano and Wismoyo Ari Prambudi, along with technician Saiful Rakhmad.

On Christmas Eve, Desano wrote on Twitter: ‘Merry Christmas to all my beautiful friends who celebrate it.’

He also posted a picture of himself wearing his Air Asia identification tag.

Air Asia flies mostly in the South East Asian area, its reach being as far as Sydney and the Queensland Gold Coast.

The airline is headed by prominent South East Asian businessman Tony Fernandes, the owner of English football club Queens Park Rangers.

Mr Fernandes tweeted: 'On my way to Surabaya where most of the passangers are from as with my Indonesian management. Providing information as we get it.'

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Flight attendent Oscar Desano (above right) is believed to have been on board the missing flight

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On Christmas Eve, Desano (middle) wrote on Twitter: ‘Merry Christmas to all my beautiful friends who celebrate it.’

The Department of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement to Fairfax Media, saying it was checking with the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and the Australian High Commissioner in Singapore to see if any of the passengers were holding an Australian passport.

'Those concerned about the welfare of their Australian family and friends who were known to be travelling on this flight should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 (or +61 2 6261 3305 if calling from overseas),' the statement read.

The Foreign Office confirmed today it is investigating whether a Briton was on board the flight, following conflicting reports from authorities.

Air Asia said a British national was not on board the plane, but Trikora Raharjo, the general manager of Surabaya's Juanda airport, said he believed there was.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘We are aware of reports of an incident regarding Air Asia flight QZ 8501.

‘Our thoughts are with the passengers' families as they await further news. We are aware of reports of a British national on board and are liaising urgently with the local authorities to establish further details.’

Indonesian authorities have accepted an offer of help with the search for the missing flight from the Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre.

A C130 aircrafts has been requested, with another on stand-by, according to a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

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InsideSingapore airport, the arrival boards is asking those picking up passengers of QZ8501 to go to the counter

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A relatives' holding area has been established at Singapore's Changi Airport

'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),' it said.

Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas said time was of the essence when trying to locate a missing plane.

'When the plane loses contact with the control tower the authorities need to start investigating immediately,’ Mr Thomas told Sky News.

'When MH370 went missing it took them a couple of hours to do anything about it, which is far too long.

'It appears that today there have been a couple of hours lag, at least, before something was done.

'But at least there are plenty of daylight hours left.'

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Air Asia has changed their logo from red to grey out of respect for the missing plane and those on board

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The flight manifest for the aircraft has been released, about six hours after it went missing

Mr Thomas said the flight path meant the aircraft flew over water for most of the route.

'The fact that they asked for a different flight path indicates that they were trying to manoeuvre around the storms,' he said.

'This is also a very heavy thunderstorm area and the weather can be very nasty.'

At Singapore airport, relatives and friends waiting to greet the passengers grew increasingly anxious when they were told that the flight was delayed.

Announcements on the arrivals board and a statement on the airline's website also relayed the information about the flight being delayed.

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The flight departed Surabaya airport (pictured) in Indonesia on Sunday morning

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It was meant to land at Changi Airport (above) before contact was lost at 7.24am (Indonesian local time)

The scenes were reminiscent of those in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur airports as families and friends became aware that something was seriously wrong when the two doomed Malaysia Airlines jets failed to arrive on schedule.

MH370 disappeared in March while on its way from Malaysia to China when it lost contact. The aircraft has not been seen since.

Five months later, MH17 was flying over Ukrainian airspace when it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. All 298 people on board the flight died, including 38 Australians.

AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number for the hotline is +622129850801.

More to come.

Statement from Air Asia regarding the missing plane

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.

 

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AirAsia flight from Indonesia to Singapore loses contact

Date
December 28, 2014 - 9:54PM

Michael Bachelard
Indonesia correspondent for Fairfax Media

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  • AirAsia flight QZ 8501 loses contact with air traffic control at 6.17am Indonesian time
  • Flight declared missing at 7.55am Indonesian time
  • 162 passengers onboard including 138 adults, 16 children and one infant
  • Search and rescue team deployed to search the sea near Belitung
  • Julie Bishop offers Australia's support to help assist the search

A search and rescue operation is underway after AirAsia flight QZ 8501 from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people onboard lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday.

The passengers onboard the flight include 138 adults, 16 children and one infant. Also on board were two pilots, including a French co-pilot, and five cabin crew.

Family members of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ 8501 talk on their phones while waiting for information inside a crisis centre at Juanda Airport in Surabaya, East Java.

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Missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501

Anxious relatives arrive at airport after flight with 162 onboard goes missing. Photo: Reuters

AirAsia said there were 149 Indonesian passengers onboard, three South Koreans, one Briton, one Singaporean, and one Malaysian.

Full flight manifest for #QZ8501: 1 infant, 16 children, 138 adults, 23 no-shows. http://t.co/HsfiJ5Y7qh h/t @YahooSG pic.twitter.com/Pj7NGFJfEM — Laura Keeney (@LauraKeeney) December 28, 2014

Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke with Indonesian President Joko Widodo to express his condolences and offer assistance.

Mr Abbott told the Indonesion President that Ausralia had a P3 Orion aircraft on standby ready to assist the search if it was required.

I've spoken to President Widodo tonight to convey Australia's sadness at the #AirAsia #QZ8501 tragedy and offered all we can to assist — Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) December 28, 2014

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said she understood no Australians were on the plane.

"It's always deeply concerning when we hear news such as this and all we can do is ascertain as much as we can about the details of the flight and to determine whether there were any Australians on board," Ms Bishop said.

She also added that she had offered Australia's "support and assistance".

The missing plane departed at 5.35am Indonesian time (9.35am AEDST) and was scheduled to arrive at 8.30am Singaporean time (11.30am AEDST).

Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the aircraft lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower early Sunday morning. AirAsia said this occured at 7.24am local time (11.24am AEDST).

Mr Mustafa said the last communication was from the pilot asking for permission to change the height from 32,000 to 34,000 feet in the Kumai Strait near Belitung due to bad weather.

Satellite image around time #AirAsia flight went missing, very vigorous thunderstorms (black) north of Surabaya pic.twitter.com/w8jSzfzvmi — James Reynolds (@EarthUncutTV) December 28, 2014

J.A. Barata, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation, said the pilot had asked to go to 38,000 feet to avoid clouds to the left.

Just five minutes later, at 6.17am local time, the tower in Jakarta lost contact with the aircraft. At 6.18am it had vanished from the radar. At 7.55am the flight was officially declared missing. When it went missing, the plane still had enough fuel for four hours flying time.

As a press conference, Indonesia's Minister for Transport, Ignasius Jonan, said the flight went missing between Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak, and, on the last contact, it was not far from the shoreline.

The search would begin where it went missing and then get wider. Search and rescue agencies were on the move from Singapore and civilian shipping was asked to provide any information if they saw anything.

The Minister of Transport asked the media not to make any assumptions, but to be patient, and as soon as they had any information it would be released. They intended to give an hourly update at the airport.

Tatang Zaenudin, deputy of personnel from Indonesia's national search and rescue agency Basarnas, said seven ships to search in the sea near Belitung had been deployed however the rescue boats were not expected to arrive at the area until midnight local time (4am AEDST).

Local head of Basarnas Joni Superiyadi said that poor weather conditions and waves of one to two meters are believed to be hampering the passage of the boats.

Basarnas has also dispatched four helicopters, including one dispatched from Jakarta which was expected to make it to the site in three hours, arriving around 3pm local time.

Mr Tatang said two Hercules aircraft had also been cleared to fly from Singapore to the site, and preparations were underway to speed up the process to approve flights from Australia to assist.

The local search and rescue chief from Pangkal Pinang, Joni Superiyadi, told Fairfax Media the closest rescue ship was 100 miles from the point where the plane went missing. It would take six to 10 hours at 10 to 15 knots for the boat - the fastest they have - to get there.

Any report of debris found at the scene was false: he had received no notification from any private vessel, he said.

A crisis centre has been set up at Surabaya airport and relatives have begun arriving to tearfully view a full list of names of those who were on the flight.

Passengers' relatives told airport officials in Surabaya they had been trying the mobile phones of their loved ones without success.

Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla tweeted: "We pray together with hope that the AirAsia plane QZ8501 SBY-Sin, which lost contact, is soon found and all passengers and crew have survived."

AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes tweeted: "Thank you for all your thoughts and prays. We must stay strong,"

#QZ8501: A holding area has been set up at Changi Airport to assist next-of-kin. This is how the entrance looks like pic.twitter.com/ihHXY1VmB2 — TODAY (@TODAYonline) December 28, 2014

One woman at the crisis centre had seven family members including her mother and brother on board the flight.

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

In posts on Facebook and Twitter, AirAsia confirmed the plane had gone missing.

AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact at 07:24hrs this morning http://t.co/WomRQuzcPO — AirAsia (@AirAsia) December 28, 2014

"AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning," the airline said.

"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."

Shortly after the airline posted its first message, it changed its Twitter and Facebook profile pictures, removing its red and white logo and replacing it with a grey and white one.

"At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service," the airline said.

"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."

AirAsia said the captain in command had a total of 6100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2275 flying hours.

The aircraft, an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC, had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on November 16.

The head of the rescue operation from the Indonesian search and rescue agency said there were three possibilities when a plane lost contact at the height it did: engine failure, that it had ditched over the sea, or was diverted to another airport.

The other airports in the region have been contacted, but have no record of a diversion, he said.

Airforce spokesman Marsma Hadi Tjahjanto confirmed the air force was using the last point of contact to conduct an air search. He said the air force radar recorded the weather at the time as cloudy.

Indonesian aviation expert Gerry Soejatman tweeted that the Indonesian Air Force had dispatched a 737-200MPA to search for the missing flight, and had cited the weather in the area as "challenging".

Mr Soejatman also tweeted an alleged leaked photograph from the Air Traffic Control screen which showed the plane was last spotted at 36,300 feet and climbing, but that its ground speed was a very slow 353 knots.

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Leaked photo of ATCscreen on #QZ8501, it ended up at 36300ft and climbing but ground speed only 353 knots! Uh oh! pic.twitter.com/jSEA2dp5yb — Gerry Soejatman (@GerryS) December 28, 2014

Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, said that US President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, had been briefed on the search for the plane, and that "White House officials will continue to monitor the situation".

'Never get lost'

AirAsia was embroiled in controversy earlier this year after publishing an article in their in-flight magazine claiming their planes would "never get lost".

The airline was forced to withdraw the Travel 3Sixty magazine from circulation in April after the comment sparked outrage due to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in March.

The article told travellers "Pilot training in AirAsia is continuous and very thorough. Rest assured that your captain is well prepared to ensure your plane will never get lost".

However, AirAsia insisted the article was written and published well before the disappearance of flight MH370.

An apology was issued for the article by AirAsia executive chairman Kamarudin Meranun. "It truly saddens me that this article was released at such an inopportune moment," he said.

It has been a year to forget for Malaysian airline companies, given the disappearance of MH370 in March and MH17 in July.

The wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has not been found nine months on, as well as the 227 passengers on board.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was expected to touch down in Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, but was shot down over area controlled by pro-Russian separatists. All 283 passengers and 15 crew on board were killed.

with Reuters, AP and staff writers


 

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British passenger on missing AirAsia flight was 'travelling with his two-year-old Singaporean daughter after other members of the family got an earlier flight'


  • British man on missing AirAsia flight was 'travelling with young daughter'
  • Chi Man Choi and two-year-old Singaporean daughter Zoe were on board
  • Understood girl's Singaporean mother and older brother got earlier flight
  • AirAsia QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control en route to Indonesia
  • Plane left Surabaya, Indonesia with 155 passengers and six crew on board
By Emma Glanfield and Richard Shears for MailOnline
Published: 13:23 GMT, 28 December 2014 | Updated: 13:47 GMT, 28 December 2014

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Hull-born Chi Man Choi (pictured), and his two-year-old daughter Zoe were on board the missing AirAsia flight which disappeared after departing Indonesia

The British passenger aboard the missing AirAsia flight was travelling with his two-year-old Singaporean daughter after other family members got an earlier flight from Indonesia, it is believed.

It is thought the man, named as Chi Man Choi, and his daughter Zoe were returning to Singapore and planned to reunite with the young girl's Singaporean mother, who travelled on an earlier flight from Surabaya, in Indonesia, with Zoe's older brother.

Mr Choi, who is believed to be from Hull, Yorkshire, originally and who graduated from the University of Essex, was the managing director at an energy company in Indonesia.

He purchased his plane ticket and that of his daughter on Boxing Day, according to the passenger manifest - and they were seated in the first row, in seats 1B and 1C.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 departed Surabaya at 5.30am local time and was scheduled to land at Singapore's Changi Airport at 8.30am local time.

However, it lost contact with air traffic control during the flight, just after the pilot reportedly asked to deviate from the flight path due to bad weather.

The Airbus A320, which was carrying 155 passengers - including 138 adults, 16 children and one infant - was last seen on radar at 6:16am local time but vanished less than a minute later.

Authorities confirmed the nationalities of the passengers included one Briton, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, three South Koreans and 149 Indonesians. It is believed the South Koreans were a husband, wife and their baby.

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The British passenger aboard the missing AirAsia Airbus A320-200 (like the one pictured above) which lost contact with air control en route to Indonesia is believed to be a father who was travelling with his daughter

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AirAsia flight QZ8501 departed Surabaya, Indonesia, at 5.30am local time and was scheduled to land at Singapore's Changi Airport at 8.30am local time. However, it lost contact with traffic control over the Java Sea

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The last contact from the pilot was when he reportedly asked to deviate from the flight path due to bad weather. Pictured: A satellite image from about the time the flight went missing shows big thunderstorms in the area

There were also two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board, six of whom were from Indonesia and one from France.

Search and rescue helicopters, a Hercules aircraft, fishing boats and official vessels had been scouring the Java Sea, near Belitung, for any sign of the missing plane.

It followed an unconfirmed report of a wreckage spotted east of Belitung Island in the Java Sea, off the east coast of Samutra, 100 miles from where the plane was last tracked.

However, authorities confirmed mid-morning (British time) that the search operation had been halted due to darkness.

Hadi Mustofa, of Indonesia's transport ministry, said: 'We ended at 5:30pm (1030am GMT) because it was getting dark. The weather was also not too good as it was getting really cloudy.

'Tomorrow we will begin at 7am, or even earlier than that if the weather is good.'

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Family and friends have gathered at Juanda Airport in Surabaya to learn about their loved ones on the flight

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The Airbus A320, which was carrying 155 passengers - including 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant - was last seen on radar at 6:16 am but had vanished less than a minute later. Pictured: Relatives at Juanda Airport

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Friends and family are gathering at the Indonesian airport as they await news of missing AirAsia flight QZ8501

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Relatives could be seen visibly distressed as they waited for information and heard the search had halted

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A relative looks at the list of passengers of the missing AirAsia flight at Juanda Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia

The Foreign Office confirmed today that it was aware a British national was on board the flight and said the passenger's next of kin had been informed.

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.'

A spokesman for the British Embassy in Jakarta said it was working with local authorities to establish further details.

AirAsia's chief executive Tony Fernandes, who also owns Premier League football club Queen's Park Rangers, posted a series of messages on Twitter today and said he was on his way to Surabaya Airport .

He said: 'Thank you for all your thoughts and prays. We must stay strong.

'My only thoughts are with the passengers and my crew.

'We put our hope in the SAR (search and rescue) operation and thank the Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysian governments.'

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AirAsia's chief executive Tony Fernandes also owns Premier League football club Queen's Park Rangers

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AirAsia's chief executive Tony Fernandes, who also owns Premier League football club QPR, took to Twitter

He said he was 'touched by the massive show of support' especially from fellow airlines.
He added: 'This is my worse nightmare (sic). But there is no stopping.
'Our priority is looking after all the next of kin for my staff and passengers. We will do whatever we can. We continue to pass information as it comes.
'I as your group CEO will be there through these hard times. We will go through this terrible ordeal together and I will try to see as many of you.'

TIMELINE OF AIRASIA FLIGHT QZ8501


  • 5.35AM (local time) - Departed Surabaya, Indonesia
  • 6.12am - Pilot requests to change the travel height of the plane to an altitude of 38,000 feet
  • 6.17am - AirAsia flight QZ8501 loses contact with Jakarta Air Traffic Control
  • 6.18am - The flight disappears from radar
  • 7.55am - Flight is declared missing

According to Indonesia's Director of Air Transport, Djoko Murjatmodjo, contact with the aircraft was lost between Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak, a trading port city in west Kalimantan about 100 nautical miles south east of Tanjung Pandan.

He said: 'We hope we can find the location of the plane as soon as possible, and we hope that God will give us guidance to find it.'

AirAsia Indonesia announced the flight's disappearance via a statement on Facebook which said: 'AirAsia 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.

'At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.'

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.

The last communication between the pilot and air traffic control was when he requested to increase his altitude due to bad weather.

According to a leaked air traffic control sheet, the plane's speed had dropped to 353 knots, suggesting it was having trouble climbing, perhaps because of severe weather.

There was no distress signal from the cockpit of the twin-engine, single-aisle plane.

Speaking 10 hours after the plane lost contact, Indonesia Vice President Jusuf Kalla expressed deep concern.

'It is most possible that it has experienced an accident,' he said.

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Director general of civil aviation Djoko Murjatmodjo briefs journalists during a press conference in Jakarta

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An official from Indonesia's national search and rescue agency in Medan, North Sumatra, shows the last known position of AirAsia flight QZ8501. The flight disappeared from the radar just after 6.16am local time

Sunardi, a weather forecaster at the Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, said dense storm clouds were detected up to 44,000 feet in the same area at the time the plane was reported to have lost contact.

'There could have been turbulence, lightning and vertical as well as horizontal strong winds within such clouds,' said Sunardi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Family and friends of those on board the missing flight have gathered at Juanda Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia, to await news of the missing flight.

AirAsia flies mostly in the South East Asian area, its reach being as far as Sydney and the Queensland Gold Coast.

The plane's disappearance comes just nine months after MH370 vanished while on its way from Malaysia to China. The Malaysia Airlines flight lost contact in March, with 239 passengers and crew on board, and has not been seen since.

Five months later, MH17 was flying over Ukrainian airspace when it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. All 298 people on board the flight died, including 38 Australians.

AirAsia said family or friends of those who may have been on the aircraft can phone their emergency call centre on 00 622129850801.


 

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Indonesia halts search for missing AirAsia plane as night falls

By Chris Nusatya and Michael Taylor
JAKARTA Sun Dec 28, 2014 9:00am EST

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An Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-200 passenger prepares to land at Sukarno-Hatta airport in Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta in this January 30, 2013 file picture. REUTERS-Enny Nuraheni-Files

(Reuters) - Indonesia called off until first light a search for an AirAsia plane with 162 people on board that went missing on Sunday after pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather during a flight from Indonesia's Surabaya city to Singapore.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501, an Airbus 320-200 carrying 155 passengers and seven crew, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. (2317 GMT on Saturday). No distress signal had been sent, said Joko Muryo Atmodjo, an Indonesian transport ministry official.

On board were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans and one each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain, plus a French pilot, the airline said in a statement, correcting earlier information.

Tatang Kurniadi, head of Indonesia's National Committee of Safety Transportation, expressed hope of locating the aircraft quickly and said it was too early to detect any of the so-called electronic pings from its black box recorder.

"We are using our capacity to search on sea and land. Hopefully we can find the location of the plane as soon as possible," he told a news conference.

"What I need to emphasize is until now, we have not found out how the plane fell or what kind of emergency it was."

Indonesia AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia (AIRA.KL), which has had a clean safety record since it began operating 13 years ago. The AirAsia group also has affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India. The aircraft had accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights, according to Airbus (AIR.PA).

The pilots of QZ8501 "was requesting deviation due to en-route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost," the airline said in a statement. Singapore, Malaysia, Britain, South Korea and Australia offered to help in the search and any investigation. Malaysia said it was sending vessels and a C130 aircraft while Singapore had also sent a C130. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said a P3 Orion aircraft was on standby if needed.

ANXIOUS RELATIVES

Flight QZ8501 was between Tanjung Pandan on Indonesia's Belitung island and Pontianak, in West Kalimantan province on Borneo - almost halfway between Surabaya and Singapore - when it went missing. There was bad weather over Belitung at the time and the aircraft had been flying at 32,000 feet before asking to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds.

In both Surabaya and Singapore, anxious relatives of people on the plane awaited news.

Louise Sidharta was at Singapore's Changi Airport waiting for her fiancée to return from a family holiday.

"It was supposed to be their last vacation before we got married," she said.

A man named Purnomo told TVOne in Surabaya of a lucky escape.

"I should have been on the flight," he said. "We, seven people, had planned to go to Singapore for vacation but this morning I had an emergency. I had my passport in hand."

Tony Fernandes, chief of Malaysia's AirAsia, said he was heading to Surabaya.

"My only thoughts are with the passengers and my crew. We put our hope in the SAR (search and rescue) operation and thank the Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysian governments," he said on Twitter.

AirAsia swapped its distinctive bright red logo for a grey background on its website and social media accounts.

The incident comes during a troubled year for Malaysia-affiliated airlines. Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and has not been found.

On July 17, Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

Indonesia AirAsia has a fleet of 30 Airbus A320s. The missing plane has been in service for just over six years, according to airfleets.net.

All AirAsia-branded airlines operate aircraft made by Airbus, which has orders for several hundred planes from the group. AirAsia is considered one of the European planemaker's most important customers.

(Additional reporting by Siva Govindasamy, Saeed Hassan, Rujun Shen and Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE, Tim Hepner in PARIS, Cindy Silviana, Gayatri Suroyo and Eveline Danubrata in JAKARTA and Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah in KUALA LUMPUR; Writing by Dean Yates and Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)


 

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Missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501: India puts 3 ships, plane on standby

PTI | Dec 28, 2014, 04.44 PM IST

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India deploys 3 ships for search operations

NEW DELHI: India has put on standby three ships and a maritime surveillance aircraft for assistance in the search operation after an AirAsia flight with 162 people on board on Sunday went missing en route from Indonesia to Singapore after losing contact with air traffic controllers.

Indian Navy sources said one ship in Bay of Bengal and another two in Andaman Sea have been put on standby.

Along with these, a P-8I aircraft has also been put on standby. The aircraft is used for maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare operations.

"The assets have been put on standby in view of the gravity of situation. They will be rushed into service as and when any order is issued," the sources said.

A Singaporean transport official said Flight QZ8501 lost contact with Jakarta Air Traffic Control just after 07:24 hours local time.

The aircraft was in the Indonesian Flight Information Region (FIR), more than 200 nautical miles southeast of the Singapore-Jakarta FIR boundary, when contact was lost, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said.

Contact with the plane was lost 42 minutes after takeoff. No Indian national was on board.

 

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Missing AirAsia flight had asked to fly higher to avoid cloud: official

JAKARTA Sun Dec 28, 2014 12:41am EST

(Reuters) - An Indonesia AirAsia flight went missing on Sunday about half way between its origin of Surabaya in Indonesia and its destination of Singapore, an Indonesian transport official said.

The aircraft was between the Indonesian port of Tanjung Pandan and the town of Pontianak, in West Kalimantan on Borneo island, when it went missing, Joko Muryo Atmodjo, air transportation director at the Transport Ministry, told a news conference.

The aircraft had been flying at 32,000 feet and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds, he said.

(Reporting by Randy Fabi; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Dean Yates)


 

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Singapore activates air force, navy for search for missing jet

SINGAPORE Sun Dec 28, 2014 12:16am EST

(Reuters) - Singapore said on Sunday it has activated its air force and navy to help in the search and rescue operation for the AirAsia (AIRA.KL) jet that went missing on a flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore.

"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 Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said in a statement.

A waiting area, and facilities and support have been set up for relatives at Changi Airport Terminal 2, it said.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar, Anshuman Daga and Rujun Shen; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

 

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South Korea says at least three South Koreans on board missing flight to Singapore


SEOUL Sun Dec 28, 2014 12:48am EST

(Reuters) - South Korea's foreign ministry said on Sunday there were at least three South Koreans on board the missing Indonesia AirAsia carrying 155 people from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

The three passengers confirmed by Indonesian authorities to the South Korean foreign ministry were one male and one female in their thirties and an infant, the ministry said.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

 

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Frantic search for AirAsia flight missing after bad weather prompts change of course

Mystery over missing Airbus A320 carrying 162 people, including 17 children, continues as authorities in Indonesia suspend search efforts overnight

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 28 December, 2014, 11:32am
UPDATED : Sunday, 28 December, 2014, 9:51pm

Reuters and Staff Reporter

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Family members of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ 8501 talk on their phones at an airport crisis centre in Surabaya. Photo: Reuters

An AirAsia flight is missing after losing contact with air traffic control while travelling in Indonesian airspace.

A massive search for the airliner was suspended for the night at around 7pm local time but would resume at 6am in the morning, said Tatang Zaenuddin of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue agency.

Flight QZ8501 had taken off from Surabaya at 5.35am on Sunday, but lost contact 42 minutes into the journey, the reports said.

The flight was bound for Singapore and was flying in cloudy weather. The Airbus A320-200 was carrying 162 people (155 passengers and seven crew), mostly Indonesians.

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An AirAsia plane similar to Flight QZ8501 arrives at Changi airport terminal in Singapore on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Tatang Kurniadi, head of Indonesia’s National Committee of Safety Transportation, expressed hope of locating the aircraft quickly and said it was too early to detect any of the so-called electronic pings from its black box recorder.

"We are using our capacity to search on sea and land. Hopefully we can find the location of the plane as soon as possible," he told a news conference.

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Indonesian National Transportation Safety Board chief Tatang Kurniadi speaks to journalists during a press conference at Sukarno Hatta International airport. Photo: EPA

"What I need to emphasise is until now, we have not found out how the plane fell or what kind of emergency it was."

There were also 17 children onboard, among them an infant, the general manager of Surabaya’s Juanda airport, Trikora Raharjo, said.

There were three South Koreans, including the baby; a Singaporean; a Briton; a Malaysian; and one French citizen. The rest were Indonesians, he said.

At Surabaya airport, dozens of relatives sat in a room, many of them talking on mobile phones and crying. Some looked dazed. As word spread, more and more family members were arriving at the crisis centre to await word.

The incident is the third aviation emergency involving Malaysian carriers this year. Last March, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished en route to Beijing, triggering a desperate search that lasted for months and the failure to find the wreckage leaving the passengers' families in uncertainty.

Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country that lost the most nationals on MH370, said Beijing shares “deep concerns” over the safety of people on board QZ8501.

China's embassies in Singapore and Indonesia were keeping track of the situation, she added.

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Families and friends of passengers comfort each other as they wait for news of what happened to the flight. Photo: Reuters

Bian Liangwei, whose brother was on flight MH370, said on Sunday: "I hope all the people aboard the AirAsia flight are fine. After all, there's no confirmation yet."

Indonesian Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the aircraft lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6.17am local time.

A report in The Guardian, citing local news outlet Kompas.com, said the plane crashed in Belitung Island, about halfway between Surabaya and Singapore, but this had not been confirmed by officials.

Mustofa said the plane lost contact when it was believed to be over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java islands.

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A relative of passengers weeps as she waits for the latest news on the missing jetliner at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya. Photo: AP

The plane had asked for an unusual route before it vanished, he said.

Joko Muryo Atmodjo, air transportation director at the Indonesia's Transport Ministry, confirmed in a news conference that the pilots had requested to deviate from their original flight plan - intending to fly at 11,600 metres instead of 9,800 metres - to avoid clouds.

The plane did not send a distress signal, Atmodjo said.

"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," AirAsia said in a statement.

Flightradar24, a flight tracking website, said the plane was delivered to the airline by Airbus in September 2008, which would make it six years old. It had recorded 23,000 flight hours on 13,600 flights. The website said the plane was flying at an altitude of 9,700 metres, the regular cruising altitude for most jetliners, when the signal from the plane was lost.

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Indonesia's President Joko Widodo speaks to the media about AirAsia Flight QZ8501 in Sorong, West Papua. Photo: Reuters

Airbus said it would provide full assistance to the investigation, and to the French authority BEA, which gets involved in such events because Airbus is France-based. A BEA spokeswoman said it was in touch with Indonesian authorities to see what assistance it could offer in the search and rescue, but had no further comment.

Indonesian Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan said search and rescue efforts now involved the army, the national Search and Rescue Agency as well as Singapore and Malaysia. But that the effort would focus on the area around Belitung island.

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Indonesian Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan, right, speaks at a press conference on AirAsia's missing plane. Photo: AP

Air Force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto said three aircraft, including a surveillance plane, had been dispatched to the area.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted confirmation of the disappearance, but did not give further details. The carrier has so far said in a series of statements that both captain and first officer were experienced, with combined flight hours of 8,375 hours.

The plane had undergone maintenance on November 16.

The flight had been due in Singapore at 8.30am. The Singapore airport said on its website the status of the flight was "delayed".

AirAsia said on Sunday morning it was investigating what happened to Flight QZ8501 and that a search and rescue operation was "under way".

“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 airline said.

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An Indonesian air force helicopter prepares to search for the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501, from a base in Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan. Photo: Reuters

William Waldock, an expert on air crash search and rescue with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the United States, cautioned against drawing comparisons to the disappearance of Malaysia flight MH370.

“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.

AirAsia also established a hotline (+622 129 850 801) to help family members during the emergency.

This is the first time AirAsia has seen one of its aircraft go missing.

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Air Asia's flight tracker shows the airplane's status as uncertain and confirms it had not yet arrived at its destination. Photo:

The Civil Aviation Authority, meanwhile, said they were informed about the flight dropping off from air traffic control radars at 7.54am, 30 minutes after the disappearance.

The White House said President Barack Obama, who grew up in Indonesia for part of his childhood, was briefed on the matter of the missing plane and that they were monitoring the situation.

Singapore, Malaysia, Britain, South Korea and Australia offered to help in the search and any investigation. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said it was sending vessels and a C130 aircraft while Singapore had also sent a C130. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said a P3 Orion aircraft was on standby if needed.

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The fiance of a passenger on AirAsia flight QZ8501 speaks to the media at Singapore's Changi Airport. Photo: Xinhua

It has been a troublesome year for airlines in Malaysia. The latest development comes just 10 months after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, in one of the worst airline disasters in recent history.

The Boeing 777-200ER from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing lost contact with air control and went missing more than a hour after it took off in the early hours of March 8.

The incident triggered an unprecedented international search and rescue operation that spanned from the southern Indian Ocean to Central Asia and involved more than two dozen countries.

Investigators months later concluded that the plane carrying 239 passengers and crew had crashed in the ocean.

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Rohana, the mother of Khairunisa, a flight attendant on missing Air Asia Flight QZ8501, points at her daughter in a family photo in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Just four months after MH370 vanished, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam crashed near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on July 17 after being hit by a surface-to-air missile.

Separatist pro-Russian forces and the Ukrainian government traded accusations over who is to blame for the attack on the Boeing 777-200 airliner.

The plane splintered into pieces after being hit, killing all 298 people on board the plane, mostly Dutch citizens.

With additional reports from Associated Press



 

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IN FULL: Passengers on Air Asia flight QZ 8501


PUBLISHED : Sunday, 28 December, 2014, 3:22pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 28 December, 2014, 3:33pm

Staff Reporter

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Photo: EPA

An Air Asia flight carrying 161 people went missing this morning after its pilots reportedly asked to fly higher in order to avoid clouds.

Flight QZ 8501 bound for Singapore had taken off from Surabaya at 5.35am on Sunday, but lost contact 42 minutes into the journey. It carried six crew members and 155 passengers - among them 16 children and one baby.

Many were Indonesians, but there were also South Koreans, a Singaporean, a Briton, a Malaysian and a French citizen onboard.

Crew:

Iriyanto (Captain)

Remi Emmanuel Plesel (First Officer)

Saiful Rakhmad (Engineer)

Flight Attendants:

Wanti Setiawati
Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi
Oscar Desano
Wismoyo Ari Prambudi

Passengers


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Sources: Detik.com, Metro TV, Indonesian Ministry of Transportation


 

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'We are so thankful to god': Man who was supposed to travel on missing AirAsia flight with his wife and three young children cancelled his tickets YESTERDAY after his father became ill

  • Chandra Susanto, from Surabaya in Indonesia, had booked seats on missing Air Asia flight QZ8501
  • He was meant to fly with his wife and three children but his father fell ill
  • Mr Susanto cancelled the tickets the day before the flight went missing
  • He said that the family is thankful to God, but that they are still very concerned for those that were on board the flight
  • Distressed relatives of the passengers and crew have gathered at airports in Singapore and Indonesia to await news of the flight
By Lucy Thackray for Daily Mail Australia and Heather Mcnab
Published: 12:35 GMT, 28 December 2014 | Updated: 16:48 GMT, 28 December 2014

An Indonesian man scheduled to travel on the missing Air Asia Indonesia flight with his family has thanked God that chance led him to cancel their tickets just a day before it disappeared.

Chandra Susanto, from Surabaya, in Indonesia, had booked seats on QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore, which lost contact with air aviation control at 6.17am this morning, for his wife and three children to visit his father.

'We had been planning our holiday to Singapore since March 2014 so it was a great surprise for us when we cancelled our holiday yesterday', Mr Susanto told Daily Mail Australia.

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Chandra Susanto, from Surabaya, in Indonesia, had booked flights on QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore with his wife and three children

He was scheduled to fly with his wife Inge and three children, Christopher,10, Nadine, 7, and Felix, 5, on the Air Asia flight, which has 155 passengers and seven crew on board.
'My father became ill so we had to cancel our flight,' Mr Susanto said.

'It was a difficult decision to make because my son Christopher was so disappointed. He had been looking forward to the holiday for a long time.'

Mr Susanto's name appears on the list of 'no-shows' for the Air Asia flight, along with his wife and children, and 18 others.

The ticket he had printed out showing the booking for the flight is a frightening reminder of how close the family came to being on the plane.

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Mr Susanto (back, right) was scheduled to fly with his wife Inge (back, left) and three children, Christopher,10 (front, left), Nadine, 7 (front, middle), and Felix, 5 (front, right), on the Air Asia flight

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Mr Susanto's name appears on the list of 'no-shows' for the Air Asia flight, along with his wife and children, and 18 others

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'We had been planning our holiday to Singapore since March 2014 so it was a great surprise for us when we cancelled our holiday yesterday', Mr Susanto said

He said that the family had only heard about the missing flight when his sister called to see whether he and his wife were safe.

'I found out about the flight when my sister called me. She was so scared. She had seen the news on tv,' Mr Susanto said.

He said that while he and his family were relieved to not have been on the flight, they were still extremely concerned about those still on board.

'I am very thankful to God for his mercy for me and my family. But I am so sad and very sorry for the people on the plane,' Mr Susanto said.

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He said that the family had only heard about the missing flight when his sister called to see whether he and his wife were safe

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'I am very thankful to God for his mercy for me and my family. But I am so sad and very sorry for the people on the plane,' Mr Susanto said

'They were just travelling to Singapore, maybe with their family, maybe for a holiday. And now they are lost,' he said.

'Our lives have changed. We are so grateful. We have an opportunity to be the best people we can and to help others. We are so thankful to God,' he said.

Distressed relatives of those still on board have gathered at Changi Airport in Singapore and Juanda Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia, to await news of the missing flight.

A massive search and rescue operation is currently under way for the plane, and fishing boats and official vessels have been sent out by Indonesia's national search and rescue authority, along with helicopters and Hercules aircraft from Singapore.

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Distressed relatives of those still on board have gathered at Changi Airport in Singapore and Juanda Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia, to await news of the missing flight

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The massive search and rescue operation is currently under way for the plane has been suspended

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The Air Asia flight had 155 passengers and seven crew on board

There is an unconfirmed report of a wreckage spotted east of Belitung Island in the Java Sea, of the east coast of Samutra, 100 miles from where the plane was last tracked.

The search efforts for the plane’s wreckage are focusing around the area of the Java Sea near Belitung.

Boats have been sent from Tanjung Pandan, the largest town on Belitung Island, but are not expected to reach the area until midnight local time, due to inclement weather and sea conditions.

 

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AirAsia plane likely 'at bottom of sea': Indonesia search chief


By AFP | AFP – 1 hour 50 minutes ago

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AFP/AFP - An AirAsia plane takes off from terminal 1 at Changi international airport in Singapore on December 29, 2014

The AirAsia plane which went missing with 162 people on board en route for Singapore is likely at the bottom of the sea, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency chief said Monday.

"Based on the coordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea," Bambang Soelistyo told a press conference.

"That's the preliminary suspicion and it can develop based on the evaluation of the result of our search."

Soelistyo said Indonesia did not have "the tools", such as submersible vehicles, required to retrieve the plane from the seabed, but that it is reaching out to other countries for help if necessary.

"Due to the lack of technology that we have, I have coordinated with our foreign minister so we will borrow from other countries which have offered. They are the UK, France and US," he said.

The Airbus A320-200 disappeared Sunday en route from Surabaya in Indonesia's east Java to Singapore after the crew requested a change of flight plan due to stormy weather, in the third crisis for a Malaysian carrier this year.

Singapore, Malaysia and Australia have dispatched aircraft and ships to assist Indonesia in the search, which is centred on the Java Sea. The US has also said it was ready to assist.


 

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What we know so far

It’s nearly noon in Surabaya. Here’s where we are on the search for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501:

  • Boats and aircraft from Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and Singapore are combing a patch of the Java Sea near where AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared early on Sunday morning. No wreckage or survivors have yet been sighted.
  • The chief of the rescue effort, Bambang Soelistyo, said the “preliminary suspicion” is that the plane is “at the bottom of the sea”. He said that Indonesia lacked the tools that would be needed to lift wreckage from the bottom of the sea, and would reach out to other countries for help.
  • The Indonesian transport minister, Ignasius Jonan, has announced a review of AirAsia Indonesia in light of the incident. “Much will be reviewed in terms of its business operations and in terms of air transportation business, so that there are safety improvements,” he said.
  • Indonesian officials remain hopeful that any wreckage of the plane will be found, as visibility has improved and the Java Sea, where the plane disappeared from radar screens, is relatively shallow. There are around six hours of daylight left on Monday.
  • An extended family of ten and another of five people, including three children, are among those who narrowly missed boarding the QZ8501, which officials now believe crashed into the water about 42 minutes after taking off.


 

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China offers to send aircraft and ships to help find Flight QZ8501

China has offered to send aircraft and ships to help in the search for missing Flight QZ8501.

Beijing's Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "The Chinese side has already said to Indonesia that it is willing to urgently send aircraft and ships to participate in search and rescue, and will provide other aid according to Indonesian needs."

Singapore, South Korea and Australia are among the countries taking part in the Indonesia-led search for the aircraft.


South Korea to send surveillance plane to join search for Flight QZ8501

South Korea has said it will send a surveillance plane to join the Indonesia-led search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

A South Korean family of three was among the 155 passengers on board the jetliner, which disappeared on Saturday.

Seoul's foreign ministry said it plans to send the aircraft as early as Tuesday in support of Indonesia's search and rescue operation.

The foreign ministry added it has been in talks with six countries to get approval for the plane to pass through their airspaces.


Indonesian government to review operations of AirAsia 'to make sure its performance can be better in the future'

Indonesia will review the operations of Indonesia AirAsia, the local unit of Malaysia's AirAsia, after Flight QZ8501 carrying 162 people went missing on Sunday.

"We will review AirAsia Indonesia to make sure its performance can be better in the future," Indonesian Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters on Monday.

"Much will be reviewed in terms of its business operations and in terms of air transportation business, so that there are safety improvements."

Shares in parent budget airline AirAsia fell more than 7.8 percent on Monday to 2.71 ringgit, the biggest one-day drop in more than three years.


 

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Missing AirAsia plane had completed 13,600 flights and was just six years old


PUBLISHED : Monday, 29 December, 2014, 9:16am
UPDATED : Monday, 29 December, 2014, 10:37am

Reuters

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An AirAsia Airbus A320, pictured in Malaysia on November 26, 2014. Photo: AP

The AirAsia plane that went missing on Sunday is young by commercial aircraft standards. It has also worked hard and lacks real time engine diagnostics, in accordance with its role as a short-haul aircraft.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501, an Airbus 320-200 with 162 people aboard, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17am after taking off from Surabaya airport in Indonesia bound for Singapore, officials said. The pilots had asked to change course to avoid bad weather.

The Airbus A320-200 was delivered to its operator in 2008. It had recorded 23,000 flight hours on 13,600 flights, manufacturer Airbus said in a statement.

Those figures make the plane between six and seven years old against an industry lifecycle standard of 25 years, operating on a work cycle averaging more than six flights a day since it began service.

The aircraft’s engines were made by French-American venture CFM International, co-owned by General Electric and Safran.

AirAsia subscribes to a GE maintenance service that may include real-time diagnostics or monitoring, according to the GE website.

Such systems are mainly used on long haul flights and can provide clues to airlines and investigators when things go wrong. A GE spokesman told Reuters: "This particular aircraft did not have the real-time remote engine diagnostics service".

AirAsia said the aircraft had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on November 16.

More than 6,000 A320-200s are in service. They are designed to be used intensively on short routes and compete with the Boeing 737.

Earlier in December, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) ordered a change in procedure for all A320 jets after computers onboard a similar A321 aircraft thought it was about to stall and pushed the nose downwards - which is the standard way of preventing an upset - just as pilots were trying to level off after climbing to their intended cruise height.

The incident happened after certain sensors iced up in bad weather. It is thought to be the only one of its kind since the A320 entered service in 1988, but resulted in a special bulletin to operators from Airbus, which was later made compulsory by EASA.

In the worst scenario, pilots would not be able to stop the automatic reaction, which could result in loss of control of the airplane, EASA said.

So far there is no indication what may have caused the AirAsia jet to go missing. Statistically, most accidents get blamed on a combination of factors, and it is rare for accident reports to isolate one single cause.

Commercial web tracking data suggested Flight QZ8501 had been in level flight for some time when it disappeared from radar, rather than at the top of the climb when the reported anomaly - although rare - is most likely to take place.

An Airbus spokesman declined to comment on the EASA directive, saying it was too early to speculate ahead of any investigation.

France’s BEA crash investigation agency, which assists in the investigation of any air crash involving an Airbus aircraft because the company is France-based, said it was sending two officials to Jakarta accompanied by two experts from Airbus.

The US-based National Transportation Safety Board said it was monitoring the search for the plane and stood ready to assist Indonesia if needed.


 

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Briton Choi Chi Man only on missing Air Asia flight because earlier flight was full


Choi Chi Man was on board Air Asia Flight QZ8501 with two-year-old daughter Zoe after rest of family flew on earlier flight


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Mr Choi, who is originally from Hull, lives in Singapore but works in Indonesia

By Tom Whitehead, and Harriet Alexander
7:01PM GMT 28 Dec 2014

A British businessman and his two-year-old daughter feared missing on the Air Asia plane was only on board because there was no room on an earlier flight, friends said.

Choi Chi Man was on Flight QZ8501 with daughter Zoe after his wife and son went on ahead.

The family could not get four seats on the earlier plane as they tired to travel back to Singapore so Mr Choi booked on a later one, it is believed.

He only bought tickets for the doomed flight on Boxing Day.

Mr Choi, who is originally from Hull, Yorkshire, lives in Singapore but works in Indonesia where he is a unit managing director for electronic manufacturing firm Alstom Power.

An engineering graduate of Essex University, his parents still live in Hull, after emigrating from Hong Kong, and he is understood to have a brother and sister in the UK.

Steve Hayler, 62, a former colleague of Mr Choi, said: “I presume it was because they could not get four seats on the same flight together.

“It is just tragic. I am guessing it was a personal trip rather than business because they were travelling as a family.”

Mr Hayler said he met Mr Cho, who is in his late 40s, when they both worked for a company making industrial electrical control equipment in Warwick before they later worked together at the French global firm Schneider Electric.

Mr Choi worked for a time for Schneider Electric in Paris before relocating to the South East Asia and then getting a new job earlier this year in Jakarta, Indonesia

Mr Hayler, of Ashdon, Essex, added: “He was a genuinely nice bloke. I remember him as an expert networker who was brilliant at making contacts.

“There will be many hundreds of people who will have known ‘Chi’ as an acquaintance. There will be a lot of people who will be very sad.

“When you are part of a global team, you might not see people for a year, but then when you meet up, you are old buddies.”

A neighbour of Mr Choi’s parents in Hull said they had gone to meet up with their other son with plans to fly out to Singapore.

The Foreign Office confirmed a British national was on the flight and the family had been informed.

"Our thoughts are with the passengers' families," the FCO said.

Mr Choi and his daughter, who has Singaporean nationality, were on board along with 155 Indonesians, one from Malaysia, one from France and three South Koreans.

The plane was being flown by Captain Irianto, an Indonesian former fighter pilot, who had clocked 6,100 hours of flying time.

“He is always helping people because he is a very caring person,” said his nephew, Doni, who lives in Surabaya – Indonesia’s second city, from which the plane took off.

“If there is a sick relative who needed help and even money, my uncle would be there.”

Capt Irianto was married to a housewife, with two school-age children, and was an active member of the Motor Besar motorcycle club – members of which were gathering at Capt Irianto’s house to support his family.

The co-pilot was a 45-year-old Frenchman named Rémi Emmanuel Plesel, who was born in the French territory of Martinique, but lived in Paris’s 17th arrondissement. He had flown 2,275 hours.

Three of the passengers were Christian missionaries from South Korea, sent to Indonesia but travelling to Singapore to renew their visas.

Thirty-seven year-old Park Seong-beom, his wife Lee Kyung-hwa, 36, and their 12-month-old daughter Park Yuna were from Yeosu, a fishing village 280 miles south of Seoul.

“I still can’t believe the family is missing,” said Choi Hong-koo, an official at the Yeosu First Presbyterian Church.

The remaining passengers were all from Indonesia, with one from Malaysia.

Maria Florentina Widodo, from Indonesia, was among the passengers. Her father, FY Widodo, a lecturer in medicine at the Wijaya Kusuma Surabaya University, posted a photo of himself and his daughter, taken on a previous flight, on Facebook.

Beneath it he wrote: “Pray for my safety.”


 

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Air Asia plane flying 'too slow' when it hit thunderstorm, expert says

QZ8501 was flying 160km/h too slow for its altitude and the difficult weather it was facing, according to aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas

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Indonesia's vice-president Jusuf Kalla monitors progress in search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501 during a visit to the National Search and Rescue Agency in Jakarta Photo: Reuters

By Telegraph reporter
4:44AM GMT 29 Dec 2014

The missing AirAsia plane was likely flying too slow when it encountered bad weather conditions, according to aviation experts.

Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320, went missing on Saturday morning while travelling from Indonesia to Singapore.

As the search operation resumed on Monday, speculation on what may have happened points to weather, speed and an older radar system.

Geoffrey Thomas, aviation expert and editor of airlineratings.com, spoke to several check captains and believes the pilot of the QZ8501 encountered difficult weather conditions but flew too slow in his efforts to avoid it.

“Pilots believe that the crew, in trying to avoid the thunderstorm by climbing, somehow have found themselves flying too slow and thus induced an aerodynamic stall similar to the circumstances of the loss of Air France AF447 to crash in 2009,” Mr Thomas said.

The Air France AF447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

“The QZ8501 was flying too slow, about 100 knots which is about 160km/h too slow. At that altitude that’s exceedingly dangerous,” Mr Thomas said.

“I have a radar plot which shows him at 36,000 feet and climbing at a speed of 353 knots, which is approximately 100 knots too slow ... if the radar return is correct, he appears to be going too slow for the altitude he is flying at.”

Mr Thomas said this should not happen in an A320, a sophisticated aircraft, so it appears as though it’s related to extreme weather conditions.

“He got caught in a massive updraft or something like that. Something’s gone terribly wrong,” he said.


 

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Update: AirAsia releases new statement about disappearance of Flight QZ8501

AirAsia Indonesia has released a new statement about the disappearance of Flight QZ8501.

It reads in full: "AirAsia Indonesia received confirmation from The National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS) that an international search and rescue mission from Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia has been mobilized in the search of flight QZ8501.

"The mission in Surabaya has resumed today at 06.00 AM LT (GMT+7).

"AirAsia Indonesia continue to support these efforts and has been actively cooperating with the search and rescue authorities.

AirAsia Indonesia's primary focus remains on the families and Sunu Widyatmoko, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Indonesia is currently stationed at the family centre in Surabaya.

"We have been keeping the families updated on the search and rescue efforts as well as provide emotional support.

"Another group of AirAsia officials are providing the same to the families based in Singapore.

"An emergency call centre has been established and available for families seeking information.

"The number is+622129270811 or 031-8690855 or 031-2986790 (Surabaya).

"We will release further information as soon as it becomes available and our thoughts and prayers are with those on board QZ8501."


 

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UPDATE 1-Allianz lead reinsurer to missing AirAsia plane

Mon Dec 29, 2014 2:02am EST

* Third major aviation accident for Allianz in 2014

* Allianz also insurer for lost Malaysia Airlines planes

* Allianz declines to give estimates of possible liabilities

* Minimum liability seen at around $100 mln (Updates throughout)

By Lawrence White

HONG KONG, Dec 29 (Reuters) - German insurer Allianz said on Monday it was the lead re-insurer to the AirAsia jet missing off the Indonesian coast with 162 people on board, making it the third major airline accident it has been involved in this year.

The German company, which has Malaysia Airlines as a client, was the main reinsurer to flight MH370 that disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March, as well as to flight MH17 which was shot down in July while flying over Ukraine.

"We can confirm that Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty UK (AGCS) is the lead reinsurer for AirAsia, for aviation hull and liability insurance," an Allianz spokeswoman said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

Aviation incidents accounted for four of the top 10 major insurance losses not linked to natural catastrophes in the first eight months of 2014, putting pressure on aviation claims that are already rising due to the use of expensive materials and demanding safety regulation, an Allianz report said.

Allianz declined to comment on the extent of its exposure or to identify other insurers with exposure to the missing Indonesia AirAsia plane, an Airbus A320-200.

But Reuters calculations show the minimum payout to cover for this accident could be around $100 million.

"It is much too early to comment on reports of this incident at this stage, except to say that our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this missing flight," Allianz said.

The plane disappeared on Sunday after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. Indonesian officials believe it crashed into the Java Sea.

As with the two Malaysia Airlines crashes, Allianz and its co-insurers will have to foot the bill for the cost of the missing Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, as well as for payments due to the relatives of the passengers that were aboard the flight.

The Airbus 320 sells for an average price of $94 million, according to Airbus's website. However, according to the age of the aircraft, the hull is likely to be insured for a lower sum.

For passenger liability, an international aviation agreement called the Montreal Convention caps initial payouts at around$165,000 per passenger at current exchange rates, or about $27 million total for the 162 passengers aboard the AirAsia flight.

But if the airline is found to have been at fault, such as through pilot error, the claims could be much higher.

"This is going be identical to MH370 and MH17 in the sense there are standard minimum insurance obligations which all carriers have to have, but if negligence can be demonstrated the sky's the limit in terms of claims," said John Ribbands, an independent Melbourne-based lawyer expert in aviation insurance.

JLT Group was the insurance broker for the AirAsia plane, the company told Reuters in a separate statement.

(Reporting by Lawrence White; Additional reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Writing by Lisa Jucca; Editing by Michael Perry)


 
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