Key points:

- An AirAsia flight QZ8501 from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday at around 6:17 am local time.

- Plane is carrying 162 people - 155 Indonesian, three South Koreans, one French, one Malaysian, one Briton and one Singaporean.

- AirAsia has established an emergency call center. The number is +622129850801.

- Plane requested to deviation due to bad weather before contact was lost.

Map showing the approximate flight path of AirAsia flight QZ8501 when it went missing on Sunday during a flight from Surabaya to Singapore. [Data/Reuters]

Backgrounder: Major air accidents in recent years

02:10 am

Indonesian search and rescue teams are to resume operations at 6am local time on Monday, or earlier, depending on the weather. The search for AirAsia flight QZ8501 was suspended due to darkness. The US, Australia and India are among the countries to have offered help in the search.- the guardian

0:20 am, Dec 29 Beijing Time

The Briton on board the AirAsia flight QZ8501 has been named as Chi Man Choi. He is thought to have been travelling with his daughter, Zoe, on tickets bought on Boxing Day. He is believed to hold a British passport but lives in Singapore with his family, says Channel News Asia.

11:25 pm

A US NTSB spokesman said the agency is monitoring the search for the missing AirAsia plane and stands "ready to assist the Indonesians if needed".

11:18 pm

Alexandra Topping has a roundup on reaction from families in Singapore and Indonesia.- the guardian

10:50 pm

AirAsia is a Malaysia-based airline that is popular in the region as a budget carrier. It has about 100 destinations, with affiliate companies in several Asian countries.

The missing plane is operated by AirAsia's Indonesian affiliate, in which the Malaysian company holds a 48.9% stake, according to its website.

AirAsia has a "very good" reputation for safety, CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest said.

Flight 8501's captain has a total of 6,100 flying hours, and the first officer a total of 2,275 flying hours, the airline said. The plane's last scheduled maintenance was on November 16, it said.

10:40 pm

Flight 8501 "was requesting deviation due to en route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost," the airline said.

The flight's captain asked permission to climb to a higher altitude, Murdjatmojo said, according to the national news agency.

According to flight tracking websites, almost the entire flight path of the plane was over the sea.

Bad weather gripped the region at the time, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.

"We still had lines of very heavy thunderstorms" when the plane was flying, Van Dam said. "But keep in mind, turbulence doesn't necessarily bring down airplanes."

CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo said that if there was an onboard emergency, the pilots should have issued a mayday call or a pan-pan call.

9:25 pm

The Singaporean onboard missing flight AirAsia QZ8501 is a two-year-old girl who was travelling with her father, a British national. - The Straits Times

9:00 pm

Another AirAsia flight en route to Pulau Langkawi had to make a "U-turn" after taking off due to some "technical issue" on Sunday, according to Malaysia-based The Star.

Flight AK6242, with more than 150 passengers on board, departed at 4:30 pm from the Penang International Airport.

Sources said the flight eventually took off at 6:15 pm and reached its destination at 6:47 pm.

8:40 pm

While the air search has been suspended for the night, some boats are still looking for any sign of the plane, AP reported.

8:29 pm

The Jakarta Post reports that the Indonesian vice president, Jusuf Kalla, is leading the search for the missing AirAsia flight. Kalla said the search is called off until Monday.

Indonesia's vice-president Jusuf Kalla (C) speaks to the media regarding AirAsia Flight QZ8501 during a visit to the National Search and Rescue Agency in Jakarta December 28, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

8:04 pm

"Given that the aircraft has been missing for so many hours, it is likely that the aircraft was not equipped with a continuous location reporting system," John Goglia wrote on Forbes.com.

7:43 pm

Indonesia has halted search for the day for missing AirAsia plane, says AFP.

Hadi Mustofa, Indonesian Transport Ministry official, tells AFP: "We ended at 1730 (1030 GMT) because it was getting dark. The weather was also not too good as it was getting really cloudy."

"Tomorrow we will begin at 7 am, or even earlier than that if the weather is good," he added.

7:37 pm

AirAsia issued a correction on its Facebook page about the nationalities of passengers and crew on board.

7:28 pm

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has offered a P3 Orion aircraft to help search, according to Australia-based ABC.

6:55 pm

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai dismissed reports that the wreckage of a missing AirAsia plane with 162 people aboard had been found, saying no information had been received about the whereabouts of the aircraft so far. - Xinhua

6:40 pm

Airbus has issued a statement with details of of the A320-200 that has disappeared. - the guardian

5:35 pm

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore has confirmed that it is linking up with Indonesian authorities to help locate the missing plane. Australia and Malaysia have also offered assistance.

The authority's statement reads:

Indonesia has accepted Singapore's offer to assist in the search and locate efforts of the missing Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, QZ8501.

The Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and supported by various agencies, including the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), had offered assistance to BASARNAS, the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency, at 0930 hours local time, this morning.

We have offered our planes and ships to assist in the search, and received confirmation from the Indonesian authorities this afternoon at 1430 hours to accept our offer, requesting for one C130 for now. We have already launched it to assist with the search and locate efforts.

Family members of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ 8501 talk on their phones while waiting for information inside a crisis centre at Juanda Airport in Surabaya, East Java Dec 28, 2014 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. [Photo/Agencies]

5:30 pm

China's Foreign Ministry said it is closely monitoring developments in missing AirAsia flight QZ8501.

China is deeply worried about the safety of the passengers and crew and offers condolences to their families, Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.

5:10 pm

Malaysia's China Press reports there is no terrorism link in the disapearance of AirAsia flight QZ8501.

4:50 pm

A C-130, a military transport aircraft, from Singapore has been launched to assist with the search efforts of 8501 plane - The Straits Times.

4:30 pm

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted that he is on his way "to Surabaya where most of the passengers are from" and that he will "provide information".

4:20 pm

Joko Widodo, Indonesia's president, has given a press conference on the missing plane.

His wife Iriana tweeted a comment that translates in English as "The president prays that the entire crew and passengers of AirAsia QZ8501 can be found safely," according to the Guardian.

3:20 pm

Indonesian transport officials have confirmed the pilot's name as Iriyanto (Indonesians often go by a single name). The co-pilot, who is French, has been named as Remi Emmanuel Plesel. - the guardian

3:10 pm

AirAsia flight 8501 from Surabaya to Singapore is believed to have crashed at the location 03.22.46 South and 108.50.07 East, in waters around 145 kilometers from Belitung, the Jakarta Globe quoted an Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) official as saying. The news has not been officially confirmed.

Family members of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ 8501 look at a passenger list inside a crisis centre at Juanda Airport in Surabaya, East Java Dec 28, 2014 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. [Photo/Agencies]

3:00 pm

No distress signal was sent, says Indonesian air transport director.

"We are coordinating with rescue team and looking for its position. We believe it is somewhere between Tanjung Pandan, a town on Belitung island, and Kalimantan," AFP quoted Indonesia's air transportation director-general Djoko Murjatmodjo as saying.

Indonesia's airforce spokesman Marsma Hadi Tjahjanto confirmed that the air force was using the last point of contact to conduct an air search.

2:48 pm

Aviation journalist John Walton has tweeted a picture of the approximate last known location of the flight.

2:39 pm

Very sad to hear that AirAsia Indonesia 8501 is missing. My thoughts are with the families. Malaysia stands ready to help, says Malaysia's Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Razak in a statement.

2:24 pm

Revised list of nationalities on board

The break-down of nationalities on board flight 8501 has been revised again by AirAsia on its Facebook page. It now stands at:

1 Singapore

1 Malaysia

1 France

3 South Korea

156 Indonesia