UPDATED: AirAsia Airbus A320 Flight QZ8501 Has Potentially Crashed Over Indonesian Airspace

By AirlineReporter Staff on December 27th, 2014

The AirAsia Airbus A320 in question (PK-AXC) seen in 2010 – Photo: Bruno Geiger | Flickr CC

According to the airline, Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 traveling from Surabaya Indonesia to Singapore has gone missing.
The aircraft involved is an Airbus A320-216 registered PK-AXC.
Stay with us for updates as the situation develops.

Route map of QZ8501 via Jason Rabinowitz on FlightRadar24

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Updates

9:29pm PST: AirAsia released a new statement:

AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24 (Surabaya LT) this morning. The flight took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 0535hours.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. There were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board.
The captain in command had a total of 6,100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2,275 flying hours 
There were 155 passengers on board, with 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots and 5 cabin crew.
Nationalities of passengers and crew onboard are as below:
1 Singapore
1 Malaysia
3 South Korean
157 Indonesia
At this time, search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of The Indonesia of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). AirAsia Indonesia is cooperating fully and assisting the investigation in every possible way.
The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to enroute weather before communication with the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control of the Indonesian Air Traffic Control (ATC).
The aircraft had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on 16 November 2014.

9:15pm PST: Via the Indonesia Air Transportation direction, they stated that the pilot of QZ8501 requested a “left track” to avoid clouds and also wanted to climb to 38,000 feet. There was bad weather in the area at the time, but 100s of airlines fly daily through bad weather and it might not be related.
8:22pm PST: Statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS):

28 December 2014, 11:30am Local Time:- An Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, QZ8501, scheduled to arrive at 0830 hours local time from Surabaya, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 0724 hours local time today. Singapore air traffic control was informed of this loss of contact at 0754 hours by Jakarta air traffic control. The aircraft was in the Indonesian Flight Information Region (FIR) when contact was lost, more than 200 nm southeast of the Singapore-Jakarta FIR boundary.
Search and rescue operations have been activated by the Indonesian authorities from the Pangkal Pinang Search and Rescue office.
The Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and supported by various agencies, including the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), has also been activated and has offered help to the Indonesian authorities. Two C130s are already on stand-by for this purpose. We remain ready to provide any assistance to support the search and rescue effort.
The CAAS and Changi Airport Group (CAG) Crisis Management Centres have already been activated. We are working with the airline’s crisis management team.
A waiting area, and all necessary facilities and support have been set up for relatives and friends of the affected passengers at Changi Airport Terminal 2 (Level 3).
Further updates will be provided once more information is available.

Screen shot taking of Air Asia’s Twitter account. No cover photo and their uses icon is now gray (was red) – noticed via @winglets747

8:05pm PST: Oddly AirAsia has updated their Twitter account to have no cover photo and their user icon is now black and white.
7:50pm PST: AirAsia has released the following statement via their Facebook:

AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning.
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.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. 
At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.
AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: +622129850801.

7:42pm PST: According to the Straits Times 162 people are on board the aircraft.
7:38pm PST: Sources reporting now that the aircraft may also have requested a descent due to turbulence.
7:34pm PST: Hadi Mustofa of the Indonesian Transport Ministry stated that flight QZ8501 lost contact with Jakarta at 6:17am local (23:17GMT). The aircraft was reported to have requested an “unusual” route.

Culled from AirlineReporter Staff