Air Transport Ministry flight director Djoko Murjatmojo said that AirAsia flight QZ8501 which is reported missing en route to Singapore from Surabaya has requested a 'change of flight path' to avoid the clouds, before it was reported missing.

"At that time, the plane, which was flying at an altitude of 32,000 feet across the Java Sea, contacted the air traffic control (ATC) to rise to an altitude of 38,000-feet.

"At 6:16am, the plane was still visible in the radar but at 6:17am, it disappeared from the ATC monitors. Starting at 6:18am, the only thing visible was the trace of the flight path,” said Djoko.

According to Djoko, Indonesia has deployed its Indonesian Sea And Coast Guard general to begin the search operation.

“The last position is between Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak in Kalimantan which is 100 nautical miles apart.

“As of now, we can only say that the last communication was at 6.17am on Sunday, before we lost contact,” said Djoko.

The plane departed Surabaya at 5:20am and was supposed to arrive in Singapore at 8:30am. It was reported that communication was lost at 7:24am local time.