in the third air incident connected to malaysia this year , an ... ( associated press ) passengers queue at the airasia service counter in changi international airport on sunday , dec. 28 , 2014 in singapore .
in the third air incident connected to malaysia this year , an airasia plane with ... ( associated press ) _ _ air asia flight 8501 takes off from surabaya , indonesia 's second - largest city , at 5:31 a.m. sunday ( 2231 gmt saturday ) , bound for singapore .
_ _ the last communication between the pilot and air traffic control is made at 6:13 a.m. ( 2313 gmt saturday ) , when the pilot asks to turn left and climb to 34,000 feet ( 10,360 meters ) to " avoid clouds , " according to djoko murjatmodjo , indonesia 's acting director general of transportation , who also said there was no distress signal from the cockpit .
the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers between indonesia 's second - largest city to singapore with 162 people on board .
_ _ airasia says the airbus a320 - 200 was on the submitted flight plan route .
murjatmodjo says it is believed to have gone missing somewhere over the java sea between tanjung pandan on belitung island and pontianak , on indonesia 's part of borneo island .
three indonesian aircraft are dispatched to the area , while singapore 's air force and navy search with two c-130 planes .
_ _ dozens of relatives of people aboard the plane gather in a room at surabaya airport to await word about their loved ones .
he later tweets to say he is heading to surabaya .