JAKARTA, Dec. 28  -- An AirAsia passenger plane with 161 people on board lost contact with ground control Sunday after departing from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore.

An official with the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation told a press conference at Jakarta airport said among the people on board, there are 155 passengers, two pilots and four air stewards.

The QZ8501 flight lost communication 42 minutes after taking off at 5:35 a.m. in staff at Indonesia's Surabaya airport. The plane is scheduled to land in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. local time.

Among the passengers, there are 149 Indonesians,three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one British and one Malaysian, local media quoted Indonesian Transportation Ministry as saying.

The Malaysia-based AirAsia confirmed its plane was missing.

"At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available," the airline said.

The incident comes at the end of a disastrous year for Malaysian aviation. Malyasia Airlines Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, disappeared in March after diverting from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing course. No trade of the jetliner has been found despite tremendous search efforts.

Months later MH 17 went down in July in the war-born eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.