BREAKING NEWS: AirAsia flight from Indonesia to Singapore 'loses contact with air traffic control'

• The AirAsia flight departed Indonesia early on Sunday morning 
• It was scheduled to land at Singapore's Changi Airport on Sunday morning
• Air traffic officials lost contact with the flight at 6.17am local time

 
 
 

A flight bound for Singapore from Indonesia has lost contact with air traffic control. 

An AirAsia flight that departed Surabaya early Sunday morning was meant to land at Changi Airport at 8.30am (Singapore local time), according to The Sunday Times. 

AirAsia Indonesia has released a statement on Facebook saying: '[It] regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07.24hrs this morning'.

An AirAsia flight that departed Surabaya early Sunday morning was meant to land at Changi Airport at 4.30am 

'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.'

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

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

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

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

It has been reported there are 138 adults, 16 children, one baby and seven crew on board the flight, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The nationalities of the passengers included one Briton, a Singaporean, one Malaysian, three Koreans and 149 Indonesians.  

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.

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