An Air Algerie flight with 116 people on board has dropped off radar, prompting a search for the missing plane.

The airline's operator said that Flight 5017 lost radar contact 50 minutes after takeoff from Ouagadougou airport in Burkina Faso, early Thursday morning.

It was supposed to arrive at Algiers' Houari Boumediene Airport about four hours later.

The plane, was carrying 110 passengers, two pilots and four crew members.

The disappearance of Algerian plane comes exactly a week after a Malaysia Airlines plane was brought down in Ukraine with 298 people on board.