An AirAsia plane with 162 people aboard went missing en route from
Indonesia to Singapore on Sunday morning shortly after the pilots
requested a change of flight plan because of weather, the third major
aviation incident this year involving a Malaysian carrier.
Malaysia has also offered assistance in the search operation.
AirAsia 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 AirAsia plane comes nearly 10 months
after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went
missing on March 8.
Searchers are yet to find any debris from Flight MH370, which officials believe crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
Another Malaysia Airlines plane MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board.