MISSING AirAsia PLANE: What We Know So Far

An AirAsia plane has been missing for the last couple of hours with 162 people on board.

Indonesia suspended air search teams until Monday morning but this is what is known about the QZ8501 flight.

The plane took off from Surabaya in Indonesia on Sunday morning headed for Singapore.
The plane lost contact with air traffic control at 06:20 local time (23:20 GMT) over the Java Sea. This was about halfway to its destination. It was due to arrive at 8.30am local time.
The missing plane had requested a ‘deviation’ from the planned flight path due to storms. The pilot asked to be allowed to rise to 11,000m to avoid dark clouds. There was no distress call.
Of the people in board 155 are passengers (138 adults, 16 children and one infant), two pilots and five other crew members.
An AirAsia number for family members and friends of those who may have been on board. It is +622 129 850 801.

This comes in a bad year for Asian aviation with a 3rd distressing situation in the last 9 months. Malaysia Airlines lost two flights, the MH370 which has still not been found and the MH17 which was shot down over Ukraine.

AirAsia, a budget airline has never lost a plane.