(Bloomberg) — An AirAsia Bhd. plane with 155 passengers andseven crew on board a flight to Singapore has gone missing foralmost a day, prompting a multi-nation search across the seassurrounding Indonesia.

A 10-hour search through Asia's day found no sign of the AirbusGroup NV A320 single-aisle jet that was on a commercial flight fromSurabaya, Indonesia, when it went off radar. Indonesian authoritiessuspended the hunt due to darkness.

“We're devastated, but we don't know what's happened yet,” ChiefExecutive Officer Tony Fernandes of the Malaysia-based AirAsiaGroup said at a press conference in Surabaya, broadcast live onTVOne. “The weather conditions weren't good; there were stormclouds. The pilot had made a request to change altitude.”

The incident comes at the end of one of the worst years inaviation for Asia, and particularly for Malaysia, which isstill reeling from the crashes of two planes operated by state-runcarrier Malaysian Airline System Bhd.

Flight 370 vanished from radar screens en route to Beijing fromKuala Lumpur March 8, while MH17 was shot down in Ukraine in July.The two incidents killed a combined 537 people and caused ticketbookings to plunge. No debris of MH370 has been found in what'sbecome the world's longest search for a missing passenger jet.

Last Signal

QZ8501 lost contact with airport controllers at 7:24 a.m.Indonesian time today, the Malaysia-based carrier said in astatement. The flight started in Surabaya, Indonesia, at 5:35 a.m.local time and was due to arrive in Singapore at 8.30 a.m. There'sa one hour time difference between the two countries. AirAsia, theregion's biggest budget airline, said there was no information onthe fate of the passengers and crew of the Airbus A320-200.

There were no immediate reports of any distress signal.

The pilot of the single-aisle jet requested to fly at a higheraltitude because of clouds, Indonesia's actingAir TransportDirector Djoko Murjatmodjo said in Jakarta today. The journey toSingapore usually takes about two hours.

The AirAsia aircraft was flying at 32,000 feet before itrequested to go higher, Indonesian authorities said today.

There were storms along AirAsia's flight path, Accuweather.comsaid on its website, citing its own meteorologist Dave Samuhel.Storms are very active this time of year, Samuhel was quoted assaying, adding that December and January are the wettest period ofthe year in Indonesia.

The last signal from the plane was between the city of Pontianakon Borneo and the town of Tanjung Pandan on Belitung island.Indonesian authorities will focus their search around Belitung andexpand that gradually, Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan saidearlier.

Deviation Requested

“The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and wasrequesting deviation due to en-route weather before communicationwith the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control ofthe Indonesian AirTraffic Control,” AirAsia said in thestatement.

AirAsia had no fatal crashes in its history of more than adecade of operations, according to AviationSafetyNetwork, whichtracks accident data.

The plane had two pilots, four flight attendants and oneengineer on board, AirAsia said. While the company is based inSepang, Malaysia, it operates with subsidiaries and affiliates indifferent countries. The missing plane belonged to the Indonesianoperations of the budget airline.

The captain in command had a total of 20,537 flying hours,including 6,053 hours with AirAsia Indonesia, and the first officera total of 2,247, the airline said in a statement revising aprevious press release.

Worst Nightmare

Of the 155 passengers, 138 were adults, 16 children and one aninfant. The plane was carrying one Singaporean, a Malaysian, aperson from France, one from the U.K., three from South Korea and155 Indonesians, according to the latest AirAsia press release.

Airbus, the Toulouse, France-based planemaker, said it's awareof the reports about Flight 8501 and in contact with theairline.

The aircraft had its last scheduled maintenance last month, thecarrier said.

Fernandes flew to Surabaya after the incident.

“This is my worst nightmare,” he tweeted earlier. “I as yourgroup CEO will be there through these hard times. We will gothrough this terrible ordeal together.”

A320 Fleet

Fernandes, 50, bought AirAsia for 1 ringgit (29 cents) inDecember 2001 and assumed 40 million ringgit of debt, according tothe airline's website. Prior to running AirAsia, Fernandes was anemployee at Richard Branson's Virgin Group. The airline had two oldaircraft when Fernandes took charge.

AirAsia had 171 A320s in operations at the end of September,according to a quarterly operating statistics statement on itswebsite. The Indonesia entity operated 30 planes, the statementsaid. The airline has units across several Asian nations, includingIndia and Thailand.

The single-aisle A320 is the most popular plane that Airbusmakes in terms of sales numbers. The plane typically seats between150 to 180 passengers, usually in six abreast configuration.

More than 3,600 A320s are in operation worldwide as of November,according to Airbus's website.

–With assistance from Niluksi Koswanage and Shamim Adam inKuala Lumpur, Michael S. Arnold in Hong Kong, Rina Chandran, SharonChen and Linus Chua in Singapore, Jim McDonald in Tokyo, Tim Culpanin Taipei, Allen Wan in Shanghai and Rieka Rahadiana inJakarta.

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