Indonesian military planes and aircraft from Singapore have started thorough search and rescue operations for an Air Asia plane carrying 162 people which went missing in bad weather today en route from Indonesia to Singapore, the third crisis for a Malaysian carrier this year. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Airbus A320-200 around an hour after it left Juanda international airport at Surabaya in east Java. Shortly before disappearing, the plane asked permission from Jakarta air traffic control to track away from its flight plan and climb above bad weather in an area noted for severe thunderstorms.

There were no Indian nationals n board. An Indonesian transport official confirmed that seven crew and 155 passengers were on board. The plane took off from Surabaya (Indonesia) at 5.20 am local time and was scheduled to land at Singapore's Changi Airport at 8.30 am. Indonesian TV channels said there were 149 Indonesians,three Koreans, one Singaporean, one Briton and one Malaysian on board.
A statement on Air Asia's Face book page said, at the present there is no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but all parties will be informed as more information becomes available. Search and rescue operations are in progress and Air Asia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service, the statement said. Malaysia has also offered assistance in the search operation.

Air Asia is popular in the region as a budget carrier. It has about 100 destinations, with subsidiaries in several Asian countries. The loss of contact with the Air Asia plane comes nearly10 months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast Asia on March 8. Searchers are yet to find any debris from Flight MH 370,which officials believe crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, India has put three ships and a maritime surveillance aircraft on standby for assistance in search operation after an Air Asia flight went missing today en route from Indonesia to Singapore. Talking to AIR, Navy spokesperson said that the long range maritime surveillance Boeing aircraft is presently at Arakkonam, about 70 kilometres from Chennai in Tamil Nadu. One ship has sailed from Chennai to Port Blair and two others are in the Andaman sea, ready to be diverted in case of a request for help.
Along with these, a P-8I aircraft has also been put on standby. The aircraft is used for maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare operations.