Breaking: AirAsia Flight from Surabaya to Singapore Missing

In a year in which two Malaysian Airlines aircraft have tragically been lost, another airliner has sadly lost contact with air traffic control this evening. The AirAsia Indonesia A320 was (hopefully is) carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members.

An AirAsia flight travelling from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control, the company has said.

Indonesian media say 162 people were on board.

The aircraft, flight number QZ8501, lost contact with air traffic control just after 07:00am local time, AirAsia tweeted.

The company said that search and rescue operations were under way for the missing plane.

It appears the flight had also requested an unusual routing:

…the aircraft had requested an unusual route before losing contact. That official, Hadi Mustofa told reports that the plane was believed to have been  over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java islands.

Let’s hope for good news — I will provide an update later.