Anxious wait for news of AirAsia flight

After the search and rescue operation was suspended at nightfall on Sunday, relatives anxiously waited throughout the night for news of the flight, now missing for more than 24 hours. AirAsia, a regional low-cost carrier founded in 2001, has never had a fatal accident.

"Our concern right now is for the relatives and the next of kin. That's our number one priority," said Tony Fernandes, AirAsia group CEO.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo said his nation was "praying for the safety" of those onboard.

'Standard maneuver'

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 last communicated with Indonesian air traffic control about 42 minutes after taking off from Indonesia's Surabaya airport at 5:20 a.m. local time (22:20 UTC) en route to Singapore, a flight that normally takes just over two hours.

According to the airline, Indonesian air traffic controllers lost contact with the Airbus A320-200 plane shortly after its pilots had requested permission to ascend by 6,000 feet to avoid bad weather - a standard maneuver in such circumstances.

"Their request to fly to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet could not be approved at that time due to traffic, there was a flight above, and five minutes later the flight disappeared from radar," said Djoko Murjatmodj, an official with the Indonesian Transport Ministry.

Reports said the plane issued no distress signal before disappearing.

Rescue efforts

The plane was carrying 162 people, 155 of whom were from Indonesia. The airline said three South Koreans and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia, and Britain were also onboard. A Frenchman was also working on the Airbus A320-200 as the plane's co-pilot.

Throughout Sunday, search and rescue operations focused on waters around the islands of Bangka and Belitung in the Java Sea, near Kalimantan Island, which is where the plane was situated when contact was lost. Singapore and Malaysia were also helping Indonesia in its search efforts.

The US also said on Sunday that it was "ready to assist in any way that's helpful." A Pentagon spokesman told AFP news agency, however, that it was not "aware of any requests for assistance" so far.

Turbulence and lightning

A weather forecaster at Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said dense storm clouds were detected at flying altitude in the area where the plane 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.

Third Asian aviation disaster this year

Sunday's incident comes in the wake of two disasters in the past 10 months which struck another Asian carrier, Malaysia Airlines.

Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Despite a massive search operation by several countries, the plane remains missing.

A second Malaysia Airlines flight, MH17, was shot down over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in mid-July. All 298 passengers and crew lost their lives.

ksb/es (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)