we think of airbus 447. we know it was an airbus 330, but could there be something similar? >> reporter: yes, of course. because you basically have two aircraft that with a very catastrophic incident at the safest point of the flight which is in flight. it is very unusual for things to happen other than that nefarious activity there's absolutely no question of that at to the moment. so you are looking at those situations where either something happens to the airplane or the aircraft or you're looking at how the plane was being flown. and, yes, 447 is a textbook example of the way in which an incident happened the pilots responded in a particular way, and there was a catastrophe. but we're a ways off from figuring out what this was. the encouraging points in the search part is that this is troubleded air space, they should be able to find the wreckage relatively quickly, once daylight arrives. >> richard quest, as always we appreciate the insights we too will be in touch with you. let's turn to meteorologist

we also know that this a 320 according to airbus is the work horse.me interesting stats here. says one lands and takes off every two seconds every day some place in the world. so that just gives you perspective on just how many reps this particular design of aircraft has under its belt. its last maintenance was just last month. there were no indications of any problems. of course we know airbus when it gets to the stage of an investigation, they likely would assist in the investigation because they know this aircraft very well they would be able to assist investigators in helping them to understand how certain parts of this plane work and answer any questions that investigators may have. but at this point airbus being very careful with their wording saying that they are simply trying to gather information. they don't want to speculate on what happened or what went wrong on board this flight. they will only say they are still gathering information. as for the ntsb i will say identify reached out to them. i reached out to them yesterday. we've not heard

airbus said it will float for hours. and, you know, so the best case scenario, okay, the engine flamed out. they stucked up hail or who knows what. lightning took out the communication system and the pilots have fwlid down and hit the ditching system switch and we got a group of people bobbing around in the satisfijava sea. that's the good scenario. the bad one is the al algier scenario in north africa another aircraft with boeing md 83, an older aircraft trying to avoid a severe weather and in that case the aircraft broke up in flight and everybody perished. so i don't know that i have a gut feel. i say the air algier scenario is probably had more likely, unfortunately, but we can just hope and pray that at first light they find the aircraft bobbing on the surface just like airbus promises. >> that would be certainly a miracle. that first light comes in just about an hour. it's 4:32 there now. the sun will rise at 5:39. a moment ago we were showing those red severe thunder cells that this plane was flying into when the

and, delivery day for airbus.ies of delays, the company will hand over its new a350 to qatar airways. we are live in toulouse with the airbus ceo in around 30 minutes time. -- that is what we are watching this morning. how are the european equity markets opening this morning? caroline hyde. >> 20 seconds into trading, we are likely to see perhaps the fifth day of gains on the stoxx 600. the ftse up 0.5% already. a bit of festive cheer creeping in. we have risk appetite back on because oil seems to be trading up for a second day. let's check in on brent. up 2.5%.

a big milestone for airbus.ad 18 orders from qatar airways and in total, orders from 41 different customers including japan airlines and delta airlines. the priority now is to ramp up production in order to make these deliveries happen on time. , in many ways airbus has decided to downplay it. last time they launched a new airplane, the a380, it was a huge event. everybody got very excited then everybody got very disappointing. the a380 remains a problem for airbus. is that having an impact on the mood in toulouse? so far we do not really see the impact on the mood. it might overshadow the celebration. the delay onay, the delivery for the a350 was announced, the cfo expressed concerns about the flagship double-decker airplane the a380. the problem is they've had no new orders from passenger airlines so far this year. they can still produce about 30 per year because they have a backup of more than 300 orders from different airlines. that's enough to break even. 2017.6 and lle problem is for 2018, wi airbus have t

airbus 330 and 340 models. i don't believe it applied to the 320. it's way too soon to jump to congre conclusi conclusions. mary, air france flew through a stormy, turbulent area and something happened where the pilots could not determine how fast or how slow the plane was going. then another plane went through the same area half an hour after another air france flight on that path and was fine. could this have anything to do with speed? going too slow, going too fast? >> well, it could. it's interesting that you mention that because there was a directive on this particular plane concerning the, i think it was the altitude indicators. they're like the pitot tubes, a tube, air inlet. it gives the pilots additional information. of course, the way, the attitude of your plane, nose up, nose down, et cetera, dramatically affects your air speed, so, yes, planes can go through situations and can be flown in manners in which one has the ability to make it through, keep your air speed up and your nose down. it's basics

when you looked at, okay air france 447 and this flight both airbus planes different models of airbush vanished during bad weather. tell me a bit more about why we're hearing experts in these early hours comparing these two incidents? >> well it's because we know that these so-called probes that hang down underneath the nose of the aircraft to measure aircraft they iced up in the case of the air france aircraft. my understanding is airbus has replaced all of defective peta tubes so if that's true and that's just what i'm hearing and reading, that shouldn't be a factor. i'm not saying it couldn't be. we never exclude anything this early in the investigation. we've learned from airbus accidents and the tubes are one scenario and, of course, the airbus that crashed in new york right there because the first officer used the rudder petals too vigorously he pulled the rudder vertical stabilizer off the aircraft. they changed the straining scenarios and airbus got the word out to all the airlines around the world i'm told. we learn from these accidents. i don't know if the tubes are a factor

let's start with the news out of airbus in toulouse.elivering planes to qatar airways. >> a year behind schedule, the a350. it is still better than airbus' last launch of the a380 and boeing's dreamliner. the new aircraft will be more fuel-efficient. 800 have been ordered so far, the first going to qatar airways. our correspondent in toulouse spoke with the chief executive of qatar airways. >> at airbus headquarters in toulouse qatar airways is about to receive its brand-new a350. probably the last new aircraft to come off an assembly line for the next 50 years ago here. the man who will be collecting it is the ceo of the airline akbar al baker. this is your airplane over here. >> this is the airplane for my country. >> why did you choose this one? >> it is a state-of-the-art, next-generation airplane. fuel-efficient, very low noise emission. and the range that we need. >> why did you buy from airbus you could have bought from boeing. >> we have bought from boeing we always like to keep our fleet young and the most modern. this is the m

it's airbus's short haul plane.e of the safest, one of the best-loved aircraft not only by airlines but also by passengers. it's a flyby wire cockpit. it's extremely modern. this aircraft we're talking about tonight, if it's the one i think it is, you're looking at a plane six years old. so it's not an old aircraft. it's being flown by an extremely reputable airline with a very good reputation for safety. >> all right. our richard quest, cnn aviation correspondent. do stand by for us, richard. we will come back to you shortly because i want to bring in derek van dam, our meteorologist, standing by with more. obviously the question on the minds of many as they hear, derek, that the pilot reportedly requested a change in the route would be the weather. what can you tell us about what the weather was like in that region at the time? this plane lost contact 7:24 a.m. local time sunday. >> all right, aisha. well, it is the middle of monsoon season across this part of the world. and normally thunderstorms or convection do

that was also an airbus. one of the things cited in the crash was bad instrumentation and the issue of the pilot training and those kinds of things. it is my understanding this kind of plane that crashed in the area right now also had issue with instrumentation and how the pilot can calculate air speed heading into thunderstorms, is that correct? >> that's true. the airbus people brought out what we call an air worthiness director two weeks ago to look at the ice wing that got the paris flight mid-flight. but there is still the problem, if you get too close to bad weather, it can be very dangerous. >> the flight control laws can order a continuous nose-down pitch that in a worse case scenario that cannot be stopped in the full acquisition. it does not sound good. thank you, robert mark, aviation expert. we appreciate your time, sir. >>> coming up, search crews are combing the water and it is nighttime there looking for the missing plane. now you're looking at pictures of the families. all they can do is watch

that also was an airbus. airbus 330 which is bigger than this smaller airbus. and in that case that crash held several things. the plane broke apart in thunderstorms. the pilots were relying on the computerized system and that's one criticism these days that they don't always fly by their instincts and they have to rely on computerized systems and that plane broke apart. you had american airlines the flight in 2001, in new york city. flight 587. that was a smaller airbus. there was a vortex from a boeing 747 that took off before it and apparently the co-pilot yanked the yoke too much to one side and the tail late lititerally fell off. do you think there's a problem number one -- we're looking now at the scene of the american airlines flight that crashed in queens just after takeoff. two questions, john. number one, are we dealing with crews that even though they have thousands and thousands of hours of flying time, they rely too much on the computerized systems. number two, is there an issue with the composite materials of these airbus which is they went away f

this happened several times with airbus planes. let me read something from flight safety which indicates there were several incidents. the crew of u.s. airplane was using the on board weather radar system to avoid thunderstorms. flying over japan at flight level 390. the airplane entered an area of cirrus clouds with light turbulence and moderate rain with brief period of intense rain. the auto pilot and auto throttle disengaged, fluctuateing air speeds were indicating and a stall warning were generated. the incidents were inship it aed with two of three pit tubes were blocked. are you concerned this to have happened here and what happens in the cockpit when you get these whacky readings. >> the pitot tubes are, indeed something that's a problem. they are not made by airbus they are made by a vendor. there's a second one i'm not sure which one was the problem. pilots should have been trained how to fly through these events. i know that northwest airlines on the a-330 which is the same plane of the air france in the atlantic had som

the plane is an airbus a320. lost contact with ground controllers less than an hour after taking off from the indonesian city of surabaya, bound for singapore. in his last message from the cockpit the pilot asked to deviate from the flight plan due to bad weather. we have correspondents and analysts standing by around the world to bring us the very latest. cnn law enforcement analyst tom fuentes, steven wallace is here as well.

i've never flown an airbus. but having used this kind of radar occasionally, it can be a real challenge. i know this pilot had 26,000 orders and the co-pilot had 2,000 hours. they're not inexperienced. i'm just curious how much time he had -- i assume these are male. these people are flying through this kind of weather because that -- there's a learning curve when you're trying to navigate through this very challenging weather. >> you talk about the on-board radar system. only shows the first curtain of water. but as flyers we all hear our pilots telling us that they know there's turbulence up ahead because other airplanes are reporting these situations. are they talking with one another? are they getting this information from ground control? >> i don't know what kind of weather radar they have over the java sea. derek is talking about satellite radar, and generally speaking that is not on board most airliners. the picture, the 360 degree picture that derek was describing is typically not something pilots have.

there were high hopes for the airbus a-380. capable of carrying 500 passengers, it is as tall as an eight-story building. the euphori when the giant jet rest took to the skies in 2007 has now faded. the plane is just too expensive for more airlines with the trend now to smaller machines. to secure its future, airbus needs to invest millions, but it #away from doing that. it also needs to attract more customers. airbus is very dependent on the dubai-based carrier emirates. the airline has ordered 140 a-38 0's to date, almost half of all orders. developing the giant plane has swallowed more than 20 billion euros. it will take decades before the a-380 gets anywhere near profit, but for airbus, ending the project would be an enormous financial setback, not to mention a huge blow to its image. >> consumers in germany will be happy to hear that inflation is staying down in europe's biggest economy, in part, driven by falling oil prices. inflation dropped to 0.6% in november, the lowest rates to its 2010. >> that is causing real conce

how this new model of jet is critical to the plane maker airbus. >> a special one hour look at global attacks on free press. next monday 9:00 eastern. >> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. >> a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. we understand there have been heavy casualties after an explosion at a markets in northeastern nigeria. it is reported the explosion happened in the market city of bouci. an entire market area was set ablaze. >>> tunisia's presidentialcy has been won by beji caid essebsi. defeating interim president moncef marzouki. are pyongyang has refused to take part in a session of u.n. in new york. >>> incident took place in the city of nott, driver attempted to stab himself afterwards. police are investigating what moistemotivated the attack. >>> criticism of the world body in a new humidity watch report. accused human rights w

officials are 95% certain the bodies are from the missing 8501 airbus airbus. rescuers located three bodies and located three others. officials say crews had earlier spot the a life jacket, part of the plane, and other objects. the indonesia president is on the way to meet with families at the cryisis center. indonesia officials agreed to allow families of those on board to fly over the search area as early as tomorrow. but now they are learning that tragic feat of the loved ones. >>> and new developments on the greek ferry fire just hours after shuttleing the last of the people from the burning ferry. word of new casualties. the associated press is reporting one al bane began sailor is dead about another injured after trying to secure the bodeat. they were hit by a rope. ten people were dead and many more could be missing. survivoring passengering are telling authorities that fire alarms never went off. >>> how do you measure up to russia's putin? a big push resignation? and america's most admired living people? >>> first look at scrambled politics. later toda

. >> this airbus a-320, that's a workhorse, right? >> it is.en proved to be a very reliable airplane. >> we're going to talk about that coming up because how safe is the airbus a-320? thanks. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to enable global commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. great job. (mandarin) ♪ ♪ cut it out. >>see you tomorrow. ♪ ♪ i've smoked a lot and quit a lot but ended up nowhere. now...i use this. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent the urge to smoke all day. i want this time to be my last time. that's why i choose nicoderm cq. (vo) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's what makes a subaru a subaru. it's just ordinary fleece but the comfort it provides is immeasurable. the america red cross brings hope and help to people in need

and, delivery day for airbus. after a series of delays, the company will hand over its new a350 to qatar airways. we are live in toulouse with the airbus ceo in around 30 minutes time. -- that is what we are watching this morning. how are the european equity markets opening this morning? caroline hyde. >> 20 seconds into trading, we are likely to see perhaps the fifth day of gains on the stoxx 600. the ftse up 0.5% already. a bit of festive cheer creeping in. we have risk appetite back on because oil seems to be trading up for a second day. let's check in on brent. up 2.5%. you were just pointing out why. it is all about saudi arabia's oil minister saying prices will recover. he even jumped on stage with a little smile. it seems he is trying to show his optimism that oil prices will recover. potentially we should be listening to them. the market is. oil prices rise. we also get data coming out. we have european consumer confidence coming out. how is that being affected by these moves in the oil market? it is impro

. >> and airbus delivers its first eight 350 -- a-350 jetliner. collect in tunisia, the leader of the secular tunis party a subsea has one the first free presidential election. official results gave him just over 55% of the vote. >> he is no stranger to tunisian politics. he served as the speaker of parliament as well as foreign and interior minister. >> he campaigned on a pledge us to believe for the north african country. >> it is official, asepsi will be the new leader of tunisia. on election night, he addressed jubilant supporters in tunis. clicks this is the beginning of our future. we hope tonight this nation. i figure b two are men, women, and girls. we thank them for their trust. >> he leads the tunis party and campaigned on an anti-islamist platform and promise to restore the procedure of the state. -- the prestige of the state. his defeated opponent, interim president, has now offered his congratulations. during the campaign, he warned essebsi might return tunisia to the old authoritarian ways. but voters were and move. and others though

i mean, airbus, itself its own stat says that every two seconds somewhere around the world, an airbus is landing or taking off. that puts it in context. at this point, airbus is careful with the language and they are not dipping into the arena of speculation, and they are waiting to gather information and making it clear that they are ready and willing to work with the investigators once it moves to the investigative stage. we know that here in the united states the ntsb has the lines of communication open with the air airbus, and the french equivalent of the ntsb, and they are talking to the indonesian ss as well, and the the lines of communication is open, but the primary goal at this point is finding the wreckage because until that is done there is but so much to figure out without the wreckage. martin. >> rene that is a e heavily trafficked air corridor there, and i'm wondering about the o other flights in the region, and in that route, did anyone see or hear or report any problems? >> right. we mentioned off of the top that the search, and the rescue is at a halt, but to the your

airbus is exceptionally safe? >> it is a solid workhorse and chosen by the top airlines in the world and across the united states, and jet blue and american and united they all fly the a hf-20s and it is compare comparable to the boeing 737 and ubiquitous. >> and there are over 6,000 of them in service, and the other workhorse is the 737 and comparable and excellent safety records. >> is there, and i know that we are focusing on the ocean, and rescue and so forth, but knowing what you know, and i will start with you, tom, about the way that these things go is there reason for optimism and hope that the people on board will be found and that there will be survivors? yes, it is an ocean, but there are 18,000 islands around there. >> yes, it is not impossible, and that plane could go down close to the island and people could make it close to shore or be on the rafts close to the sea, and you have daytime temperatures in the high 80s in that area, and not the concern of hypothermia if it went down in alaska or somethi

day two of airbus in london. shares continue to slide as the manufacturer considers the future of the giant's a-380. kong polys removed barricades and tents as protest leaders pledged to stay in admiralty. will they be able to? good morning. you are watching "the pulse." i'm guy johnson. we promised breaking news from the central banks and i said it would kick off with norway. the norwegian central bank has cut its key rate by 25 basis points. that takes them to 1.25%. that is the norwegian krone versus the swedish krona. a useful pair to look at in these scenarios. as you can see, we are seeing a sharp drop as a result of the news that is emerging from norway. a central bank cut from the ritz bank. we kind of expected that we would get some news coming out, but we knew this was a possibility not fully priced into the crosses. there is one of the key crosses and it is down 1.27%. hour, we start to get the ecb coming out with news. the bank of england will be out with a pole. we hear from carney today as well. we

it's taking airbus into the realms of carbon composite. it's 53% carbon, lighter, more fuel efficient, making savings of 25%, which is more important when oil is up around $100 a barrel. any savings will be appreciated. it's been delayed by a week. qatar airways not happy with the state it was last week, said that the interior fitout was not ready and up to their standards, which they and airbus admitted. before christmas, this plane will make its journey to doha on tuesday. >> romania made significant progress in housing its homeless. in the tunnels in syria below buickar rest, there's people that stay -- bucca rest there's people that stay below the reach of society. some viewers may find some images in this report disturbing. >> reporter: from afar it hooks like a mann hole cover. this is a door to a parallel society, a world beyond the reach of the police or the authorities. and it is right beneath the feet of commuters in a european capital. the first sense is a claustrophobic heat, and a pungent smell. then you see the sirrings and t

what if anything is airbus saying about their aircraft and we're talking about the airbus a320-200. >> this is a relatively new aircraft. it was delivered in 2008 of october. it's just over six years old. we know the flight time about 23,000 flight hours. >> when we talk about how many millions of flights this particular family of aircraft has made. we also martin have been in touch with authorities here in the united states. just to see what kind of role they could possibly play in all of this. in my conversation with the ntsb this morning, they say they are actively monitoring this situation. they say the lines of communication very much open between the ntsb as well as the manufacturer airbus. they're also in touch with those that will lead this investigation. it's fair to say that the ntsb will not have an extremely prominent role. they say that they areal ready and willing to assist if anyone has any technical needs or needs any mechanic advice. however, we expect that the french authorities will have a more prominent role here for a couple of reasons. this aircraft was manufactu

at this point, airbus is very careful with the language it is using.pping into the arena of speculation. they say they are waiting, and they are collecting information. they're making it very clear that they are ready and willing to work with investigators once it moves on to the investigative stage. we also know that here in the united states, the national transportation safety board they have opened up the lines of communication. they've been in contact with airbus the manufacturer of the aircraft. they've also been in touch with the french equivalent of the ntsb. and we've also been told they've been in touch with the indonesians, and the indonesians will likely lead the investigation. they are ready to provide technical assistance if they are asked for it. back to you. >>> rene marsh there. next on cnn, more on the search and rescue mission for that missing flight. we're going to ache a closer look at the weather that rescue teams are facing today. the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for pract

that is also an airbus, a bigger airbus but its pitot tube, the little probe probes on outside of the plane that measure airspeed, they froze up. that caused flight computers to turn off and pilots didn't know in the dark of night what they were looking at, what was going on with the airplane. >> well, exactly. now one of the things that is different is this flight took off an hour after dawn. even though they were in probably cloudy conditions it was daylight but you can't help but draw parallels with air france and we're going to wonder with the conditions that they were in, one of the first things that we hope we'll retrieve on this air data computer is, did they lose any of the sensors? did they lose part of the pitot-static system as you mentioned on air france. how that would happen encount iring supercooled water droplets that simply overwhelmed heating system on external sensors. when that happens, the on board computers don't have accurate information. they can go blank or malfunction, leaving the pilots in a state of confusion. one of the other things we need to look into is

it's an airbus a-320. we do know how many people were on that flight now. 162 on the flight manifest. that's 155 passengers and seven cry. most on board were indonesians with three south koreans, one singaporean, one from malaysia and one french person on board. we have also learned of the passengers 17 were children and that includes one baby. the ceo of airasia tweeted this short statement -- "thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. we must stay strong." we haven't heard from them in a while. if we get any updates from the airline company itself we'll certainly bring that to you immediately. airasia again released the nationalities of the people on board. i just gave that to you. three from south korea. one from singapore. one from malaysia. and one from france. so we continue on here. joining me by phone is greg waldron. greg is the asia managing editor of "flight global." with what we know greg about this plane and its query to divert to another height flying it wanted to go to 38,000 feet. there

it's an airbus. airbus released a statement while confirming details of the missing flight. airbus is saying that the aircraft was delivered back in 2008. it had accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights. the a-320 is short to medium range narrow body jet. it can carry up to 180 passengers. it has a range of about 3,700 miles or so. this plane is a very popular plane in wide use around the world. there are 6,000 right now currently in service. joining me via skype, john cox, msnbc aviation analyst who also served for 25 years as airline captain for us airways. what the do you think is happening based on what we know? >> good morning, alex. i think we know so far that the pilots were dealing with thunderstorms, which is not an unusual circumstance there. they requested a change in altitude and potentially a change in routing. this is a normal course of events. it's beyond that whatever occurred probably occurred quickly as they did not make any additional calls or statements to air traffic control. and i think that the steps that the malaysian gover

the airbus a 320 was carrying 162 people when it went missing on sunday morning.ft indonesia's airport at 5:20 a.m. local time en route to sing apore singapore. it lost contact with air traffic controllers 42 minutes after takeoff after the pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather. veronica reports. >> reporter: from the air and at sea, an intense search for missing flight air asia 8501. the airbus a 320 was carrying 162 people on the way to singapore. 42 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft lost communication with air traffic control. >> i hope for a miracle. may god save them all. i should have been with them as i cancelled two weeks ago. i had two friends on board with five family members. >> those with relatives on board have been demanding answers. indonesia's disaster management authorities quickly set up a crisis center at suribaya airport as help from foreign countries pour in. >> the national search and rescue agency the air force and navy had their orders. they deployed the fullest extent of our resources and equipment to find the missing aircra

an airbus 320 disappeared from radar. it is now just past 3:00 in the morning in that part of the world. the search from the sky set to resume in about three hours from now. the airliner took off sunday morning local time from indonesia indonesia's second largest city. it was about halfway to singapore, 42 minutes into the flight, when it disappeared into the radar. now, the questions of what and how it happened. hello, everyone, welcome to america's news headquarters. >> 162 passengers and crew on board that flight. including 16 children. and one infant. most of them are indonesian and right now, their loved ones are in agony waiting for answers. let's go to will carr with the latest. will? >> well, those families desperately hoping to get those answers as the search resumes come daylight. right now, they're at a crisis center in west indonesia where they have been getting updates throughout the night. now, the majority of the passengers on the plane are from that region. and authorities are still trying to figure out ex

the airbus a-320 took off from surabaya. rough roughly an hour later, it vanished en route to singapore. the pilots encountered severe storms that may have contributed to the fate of the passengers and crew. >> usually it's not one thing that brings down a plane and for a modern jetliner or a big jetliner to be brought down by turbulence it's rare. >> reporter: one theory the plane may have stalled as it climbed to a higher altitude. this was leaked by an air traffic controller and seems to report that. >> what it shows is this particular flight had an altitude of 36,000 feet and climbing but traveling at approximately 105 miles per hour too slow to sustain flight. >> reporter: cnn could not validate the authenticity of that image. we know that at 6:12 a.m. pilots asked for permission to climb from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet. it would be the last known communication from the crew. >> we are very devastated by what's happened. it's unbelievable but we do not know what has happened yet. >> reporter: for these two teenage girls

the plane is an airbus a320. it lost contact with ground controllers less than an hour after taking off from the indonesian city of surabaya bound for singapore. in his last message from the cockpit the pilot asked to deviate from the flight plan due to bad weather. we have correspondents and analysts standing by around the world to bring us the very latest. cnn law enforcement analyst tom fuentes, steven wallace is here as well. also with us peter golds former managing director for the ntsb and rene marsh. but i want to begin in beijing with cnn will riply who has been following the ins and occupants of what we know so far. will. >> reporter: what we know is that the families right now in indonesia, dana are going through a similar agony that the families right here in beijing went through in the initial hours after mh-370 disappeared where they are waiting at the airport for any information, information that for flight 370 families really still hasn't come they still don't have closure. the situation right now

they will be on an airbus 320, the same type of plane that has disappeared. there should be room for 160-plus passengers on that. they have also invited some media on that flight as well. but that's about all the details we have at the moment. but certainly, airasia and authorities here have been doing everything they can to increase the flow of information to the families here. they just set up a skype link with their headquarters of the search team in jakarta so they could ask questions first hand of the chiefs in charge of this search. and also there's been what is essentially a multi-denominational prayer service held just behind me, again, behind closed doors. there were two christian priests and a muslim cleric was there. they also have a buddhist on hand as well, who is also doing one on one conversations and prayer meetings with the families of the victims. so they are trying to get as much information to the families and give them as much as they can. the families obviously want information desperately. the scenes of anguish here, robyn are heart-ren

the captain had 20,000 flying hours, about 7,000 on the airbus.something like 2,100 or so. when you hear those numbers what does that tell you, in terms of experience when dealing with the kind of weather conditions we're told were happening at the time this flight lost contact with air traffic control. >> well the captain was obviously very experienced. i suspect he's probably seen a lot of these sorts of things before if he's operated in that region for any length of time. if he's operated in that region for any time he would understand the weather patterns that exist throughout the year. right now it's the moon soon season. the southeast trades are blowing. this is normal weather for this time of year up there. he and all the other pilots operating up there would know that. so i think that the aircraft was in capable hands and we do need to make a point that airasia has a very good safety record so far. this to the best of my knowledge, is the first major events. they may have had minor accidents before but nothing of any great significance tha

in an airbus you're limited. you have to rely very the computer. >> well that is the difference in philosophy between the two companies. one is that computer knows best and that's airbus and boeing's philosophy is we'll put a computer in there to help you if you want to fly this airplane upside down we'll let you. trace: i don't want to start any buzz about the airplane itself because we know the a320s are very good airplanes. their safety record is almost impeccable. my question about the short hop planes, we learned this a long time ago with the 737 in hawaii, planes over water, this was only six-year-old plane but had 13,000 cycles. 23,000 flight hours, 13,000 cycles. awful lot of up and down. put as lot of stress on air frame, pressurization, depressurization. does that put any pressure on planes going into severe turbulence? >> certainly puts a factor into whether or not the plane is airworthy. that is why we have robust inspection pros services for the -- processes for the airplanes. six years probably made

it's the airbus a 350. why do we care? it's taking airbus in to the realm of carbon competence. this plane is made of 53 percent carbon, it's fuel efficient, and will make a savings of 25%, which is more important when oil prices were up around the $100-barrel market. but still any savings will be appreciated. this has been delayed by a week. qatar airways was not happy with the plane. here we are now just before christmas, and this plane, to make its journey to doha on tuesday. >> romania has made significant progress to house it's homeless people. but in the tunnels and sewers below the capitol bucharest there are people who stay stubbornly beyond society's reach. paul brennan went underground to meet such group and their leader. a warning that some may find the images in this report disturbing. >> reporter: from afar it looks like just another manhole cover, but this is a door to a parallel society, a world beyond the reach of the police or authorities. and it is right beneath the feet of commuters in the european capitol. the first sense of a claustrophobic steving heat and

this is a photo of a plane, airbus a-32200 similar to the one that is missing. weather maps show heavy thunderstorms in the area when the plane lost contact. the captain in command had 6,100 flying hours and the aircraft had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on november 16th. again, 162 people on board the flight including 16 children and one infant. marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >>> and this is the second jet line tore go missing this year. you remember the first, back in march, malaysia airlines flight 370 disappeared. still hasn't been found. the search is still going on with a survey of the sea floor taking place. the pilot's last voice contact with air traffic control was less than an hour after takeoff. the boeing 777 was carrying 227 passengers along with 12 crew members. we'll continue to follow this breaking story on air and online. we have the latest on "today in the bay" starting at 7:00 a.m. >>> another breaking story. 49ers head coach jim harbaugh is heading to michigan. tomorrow will be his final game with the san francisco 49ers. let's

. >> in france airbus has handed over its first a 350 passenger jets to qatar airways. it can carry up to 350 passengers on long flights while cutting fuel consumptions by a quarter. >> reporter: some would say a historic day here where they're calling the last brand new generation plane for another decade. the airbus a 350, this will be taken by qatar airways and delivered to doha on tuesday. why do we care? it's taking airbus into the realm of carbon competence. it's lighter, more fuel efficient. they say it will make savings of 25%, which is more important when oil prices were up around $100-barrel mark, but in an industry where margins are so thin, any savings will be appreciated. last week qatar airways said that the interior was not up to their standard, but they are now. now the planes are ready to make their journey on tuesday. >> opec the organization of the petroleum exporting countries believe that oil prices will recover and soon. we go to the a conference of april oil exporters i in abou diaby. >> reporter: gathered at a time when oil prices have taken a di

this missing plane, an airbus a-320, part of airasia's fleet. miguel marquez takes a closer look at the plane's history and how it flies with other airlines around the world. >> worldwide, more than 3600 airbus 320s are flown by more than 400 airlines, charter companies and private entities. eight american carriers combined have more than 450 a320s in their fleet, amongs the biggest, jet blue with 190. delta and u.s. airways, 69 each. in the short to medium range world, the a320 is second only to boeing 737, which has delivered nearly 8,000 of its ultra-popular medium-sized planes. the family includes the a318, 319, and 321. all similar in range and control. airbus says every 2.5 seconds, a plane from one of its 320 family is taking off or landing somewhere in the world. the missing plane was delivered to airasia in 2008. since then, the airline says it has taken off some 13,600 times, logging approximately 23,000 hours in the air. airasia flight 8501 was carrying more than 18,000 pounds of fuel enough for three hours of flight. shortly before d

>> they have to follow the protocols that airbus. these aircraft are generally leased. so there is a standard for that. but how is the maintenance supplied when it's sent to third batter countries and it's a question of airline supervision of those third party countries. >> exactly. >> in the united states, there were reports that earlier, that jetblue was sending its aircraft for maintenance to dpa watt mala. jetblue has a reasonable safety record, actually exceptional in many instances, they have effectively managed that kind of maintenance program much the same is not always true in asia. >> so tony fernandez, we think about all the family members of the 162 individuals on that plane, i came out front very early. >> did he. >> he spoke very personally. this is very different from hm 370 and the early times, the early days. when you think about those 162 and their families and how they are handling the crisis center, what are you looking for next? >> i think those experiences were distally opposite. and i think tony fernandez, as you said, came out front. empathized w

the airbus 320 vanished from radar him to just disappear is baffle filing. crisscrossed the water for hours and, turned up no trace of the plane or the people. >>> emotional relatives gathered at airports and huddled over passenger lists, hoping for good news. >>> this is shallow water if we can get a relative area, and fine that black box and understand what went on. >>> all shades of malaysia 370 which vanished, in march, the search has proved nothing. >>> nothing has changed. it just shouldn't happen. >>> both airasia, and the missing airbus 320, have good safety records. >>> a company has stepped in, to help 106-year-old woman, whose home is infested with bedbugs this after 7 on your side got involved. now, what's being done. >>> 7 on your side, first met the lady in her bedbug infested apartment. >>> they were in my couch and my bed. >>> how bad was the problem? >>> well, this is video of bedbugs crawling on her, and she was forced to throw out her furniture, and storing her clothing in bags. no help from her landlord and, they saw our story and offered

let's go from airbags to airbus. is developing a high-altitude, solar powered drone that can stay aloft indefinitely. check it out. in greek mythology, zephyr was the god of the light, westerly wind. zephyr glides through the skies. solar-powered aircraft. it is very light and flies at high altitude. >> zephyr is more than a aircraft. high-altitude pseudo-satellite, or haps system, invented by airbus. >> we can do observation from miles away. we are so much closer to the use of a satellite. >> traditional satellites orbit hundreds of miles away from the earth's's surface. this effort operates at 65,000 feet and is geostationary. it can remain above a specific location for extended amounts of time. >> it is like having a cell phone tower in the sky. >>'s effort has the potential to disrupt many industries, from communications to whether to surveillance. needs tot off, zephyr stay in flight for as long as possible. the key? the sun. the lightweight carbon body has flexible solar powells that power small electric indige

the airbus not capable of climbing those altitudes. certainly headwinds and very dangerous scenario. we don't think weather by itself played a role. it is several scenarios to cause these devastations and tragedies. this particular storm as large as you see it on our planet over portions of indonesia. >> crucial details there. airasia has had a nearly flawless safety record. what about the aircraft itself? we have rene marsh with more on the safety record. >> reporter: this is a newer aircraft. delivery date is october of 2008. as far as flight time we are told by airbus it has 23,000 flight hours. it is what you would call a workhorse for commercial aviation. the safety record for the a-320 is pretty good when you consider the millions of flights this family of aircraft has made. at this point, airbus is careful with the language it is using. it is not dipping into the arena of speculation. they are waiting and collecting information. they are making it very clear they are ready and willing to work with investigators once it moves on

airline officiales say pieces of debris floating in the sea are from the missing airbus.already recovered three bodies and located three others. now, this is in the waters off the borneo island. officials say crews had earlier spotted a life jacket part of the plane and other objects reportedly even a piece of luggage. the indonesian president has just arrived at the crisis center where he is meeting with families there. the grim news comes as crews were beginning to wrap up the third day of search and rescue efforts. >>> the united states had just sent the destroyer uss sampson to assist in the multinational search. also indonesian officials had agreed to allow families of those on board to fly over the search area as early as tomorrow to pay their respects and for some to pray. now they're learning the tragic fate of their loved ones. airasia ceo tweeted this somber message to those families saying my heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in qz 8501. on behalf of airasia, my condolences. >>> time to bring you some news from the telegraph. the queen'

of which 6100 hours were with airasia on the airbus 320.y more flying time than pilot chesley sullenberger who executed a water landing in new york with 155 passengers and crew on board. all survived. the captain of the airasia plane had about the same skillset based on his experience. >> captain sullenberger would say he would have been just as competent to perform the miracle on the hudson. >> reporter: what we don't know is what happened in the cockpit before the plane went off radar. the clues include the presence of bad weather in the area and the request to increase altitude which was denied because of additional air traffic close by. what the traffic may have done with that information is an open question. for example, whether the pilot may have disregarded the controller's guidance. >> what disturbs me is did he begin a climb without clearance. that might be indicative of an emergency problem developing. >> reporter: there was also no known communication before it went off radar. not necessarily a radio malfunction. >> we're trained

. >> the airbus a3200 left indonesia at 5:30 eastern last night bound for singapore. indonesian officials say in about 45 minutes later the captain asked to climb above 38,000 feet because of torrential weather. minutes later the plane disappeared from radar. now airline officials say they lost contact at 7:24 eastern, though indonesian authorities say they actually monitored the jet for another half hour before losing contact. now the flight was due to land at 8:30 eastern last night. now families desperate as you can imagine for any sign of what might have happened to this plane and this is all unfolding. as you know, less than ten months after malaysia airlines flight 370 went missing enout from kuala lumpur to beijing and despite a massive international search effort there is still no trace of that aircraft or the 239 people on board. joining us on the phone aviation correspondent richard quest. richard, we've been talking all morning about the potential, the possibility of what went wrong with this plane and this flight and we have heard from multiple sources tha

it's an airbus a-320. there were 162 people listed on the flight and fest 155 passengers and seven crew that is the actual plane we're talking about. most on board are indonesians. but we're also told that there are three south koreans, one singaporean. one person from france and one from malaysia. we've also learned among the passengers, there were 17 children, including an infant. the ceo of airasia, highly regarded businessman, who really brought this airline back many years ago made it extremely viable. it's a no-frills budget airline. he tweeted a short statement "thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. we must stay strong." we are looking at footage as people learned that flight went missing. we are told that there are care centers set up for families and there is a number for families to call. but right now, no word on what exactly has happened to this airplane. and even though there is a search by sea and air, conditions are still extremely poor. this is a time of year when they get hammered b

they assume the airbus crashed into the java sea. good morning. the ships are still out. they're including fishing boats and warships. they're combing that area of the java sea just east of indonesia. the indeeonesian navy says oil slicks have been spotted and there's debris floating in the area of the presumed crass ia. the working high pocket sis is that the plane is at the bottom of the sea but specialized equipment will be hunting for the electronic signals coming from the plane's black box wherever it is in the area of the ocean that is shallow and relatively accessible. vinita? >> thank you. travel editor peter greenberg is with us this morning. good morning. >> good morning. >> there was a change in altitude and he asked to go higher. you say that's not. >> it's denied because there's other traffic in the area. it's not an unusual situation. >> could severe weather take down a plane? >> it depends what you call severe. when you see big blotches of red, every pilot knows, don't go there. he has time to get around it. remember,