AirAsia Plane Disappears On Flight From Indonesia To Singapore

Another Asian airliner has gone missing: AirAsia flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control at 7:24 a.m. local time on Saturday, AirAsia reported about four hours after the plane disappeared en route to Singapore.

(For context for American readers, the flight disappeared at roughly 6:24 p.m. EST on Saturday in the United States.)

If the AirAsia plane is not found, it would mark the second aviation catastrophe to befall the region this year: In March 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic control when it was about several hundred miles north of Singapore. Rescuers still have been unable to find any traces of flight MH370, or its 239 passengers and crew, despite an unprecedented search effort.

In April 2014, or one month after MH370 went missing, AirAsia was forced to apologize after its in-flight magazine suggested that AirAsia’s own well-trained pilots would never lose a plane.

AirAsia said the magazine was printed before MH370 disappeared, and was not intended as a commentary on its rival airline.

Details on AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Sunday’s missing AirAsia flight was traveling between Surabaya, in Indonesia, and Singapore. There were 162 people on board the Airbus A320-200.

An AirAsia official told the media on Sunday that the plane had requested “an unusual route” before air traffic control lost contact with QZ8501 over the Java Sea. However, an Indonesia Transport Ministry spokesperson later clarified that the pilot’s request was permission to change altitude due to bad weather, Steve Herman reported for the Voice of America.

“At the present time we unfortunately have no further information,” according to AirAsia’s statement. “At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.”

After releasing its statement to reporters, AirAsia immediately changed the appearance of its various social media accounts. On AirAsia’s Facebook account, for instance, the company swapped out its usual bright red logo in favor of a muted gray logo, and changed the background of its Facebook from a festive holiday theme to a shrouded, all-black bar