airasia's been a phenomenal success story over the last few years. what they've done is they've really brought the low-cost model into the region. a gentleman named tony fernandes up in kuala lumpur. it's a kuala lumpur-based carrier. and airasia in malaysia has gloen explosively. they've brachld outbranched out in other regions. in indonesia. thailand. they're also going to be flying to india as well. it's a very big airline and it has an enormous order book for a-320 aircraft. it's one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, and it's really feeding living off that demand for low-cost air travel in southeast asia and the broader asia pacific. safety record is decent. in particular airasia indonesia hasn't had any safety issues over the years. it's a low-cost airline. it's very popular. and the safety record is very strong. >> did i hear you say it's based in kuala lumpur malaysia? >> yeah. areas of the headquarters of airasia itself is in kuala lumpur. and then they have a franchise model for these other companies. and indonesia, they have indonesia airasia. that's like a franchise of the main parent. they have the thai unit as well. what this allows the

we are also hearing from the chief executive of airasia tony fernandes who says his heart is filled with sadness after today's discovery. >> richard jordan on capitol hill. thank you. >>> right now d.c. police are looking for clues in two sexual assault cases. police say two men robbed and assaulted a woman on sunday night. she claims they attacked her in an alley near georgia and candace avenues and took off. in a separate case police say a woman was assaulted early sunday morning in the area of 12th street and trenton place. that is in southeast d.c. now the suspect in that case had a handgun and fled the scene in a four-door honda sedan. >>> a deadly fire leaves one woman dead. the fire broke out late monday afternoon and the first crew on the scene said they saw flames shooting from the roof and then they found 70-year-old betty-ann davis on the floor. firefighters pulled her from the home but it was too late. a dog and cat inside the house also died in the blaze. it took 60 firefighters to put out the blaze and still no word on how it all started. >>> a frederick county maryland, th

. >> and we turn now to the man behind airasia, tony fernandes whose biggest challenge is now at his feet. >> he bought airasia from the malaysian government for less than $1 and staged a major turn around. poppy harlow has a look at how he's handling this case so far. >> reporter: tony fernandes is living the moment every airline executive dreads. airasia ceo since 2001, he treated more than a dozen times in the hours following the plane's disappearance. this is my worse nightmare. we will go through this terrible ordeal together. >> our concern right now is for the relatives and next of ken. >> reporter: the approach of airasia thus far stands in stark contrast to malaysia airlines after mh 370 disappeared. >> it is a boeing triple 7 wide body jet. >> all affected passengers and crew and their family members. >> reporter: but malaysia airlines didn't tell families that flight 370 was missing until after it was supposed to arrive in beijing, many hours after it vanished. and there was the disastrous text message sent from lails airlines to family members saying none of those on board

and the problem was also addressed by the ceo of airasia, tony fernandes. at this point, it is too early to speculate. >> the weather conditions were not good but we don't really want to speculate anything more. obviously, there was storm clouds and pilot had made a request to change altitude. that's as far as we know. we don't want to speculate as to whether weather was a contributor. we really don't though. let's find the aircraft and then do the proper investigation. >>> joining us now via skype, jeffrey phenomenon asthomas. he has more than 40 years of experience covering the aviation industry. he is in perth. thank you for staying with us. the big news we've had over the last couple hours is that the officials say that they believe the plane is at the bottle ofom of the sea. how did they get to that point? >> that's a very good question. i'm not sure how they got to that evaluation. i guess they've simply said look we know we've lost contact. it's been 24 hours. we've found no debris on the surface. we have no other explanation other than it has crashe

airasia ceo tony fernandes refuting claims that 8501 wreckage has been found is confirmed. first two bodies brought back to surabaya for identification. the search and rescue identification has been halted because of bad weather. it's hard to imagine what them maybes are going through, first the discovery of bodies and the plane. the ceo hasn't said hasn't been confirmed just yet. still some confusion there. but this tragedy has also opened emotional wounds for others in the region. cnn's will ripley is looking at that. >> christine, this tragedy is not just affecting those in indonesia, the immediate families and the community that are suffering so much right now but the also affecting people all around this region. people are following it very closely. it's front page news on pretty much all the major papers and news channels here in china and throughout the asia-pacific region. and there was one regional network caught in a very disturbing situation for a lot of viewers. they were simulcasting a local indonesian television station when graphic images showing a half parti

the ceo of airasia, tony fernandes fernandes, highly regarded businessman is on his way to surabaya. earlier, he tweeted a short statement. it read "thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. we must stay strong." then he later tweeted that he was on his way to surabaya. there have also been tweets from malaysia airlines to airasia. they're competitors, expressing their support and understanding what airasia is going through now with a missing airplane. we will continue to bring you any updates on this story. we'll continue to talk with people and our correspondents. we have a team that's covering the story. president president obama has issued a statement of support for the airline, but he is on holiday in hawaii. so if we hear anything more from the president, he was briefed on the missing plane. we will bring you that from correspondent michelle kosinski in hawaii with the president as they take their holiday there. >>> we have another disaster that we're covering that has broken in the last hour and a half. it's from europe it's a ferry called "fire". it's on fire in the adriat

but the ceo of airasia, tony fernandes is on his way to surabaya where this flight originated. and he tweet add short statement a while ago, saying "thank you for your thoughts and prayers. we must stay strong." he followed that up with another tweet saying he was on his way to surabaya. they've created some areas for the families who are devastated and probably terrified of what has happened to their loved ones. and we're just waiting to hear any word from airasia. there's been no hint of a possible briefing but if we do get word of that we will let you know what time that is expected. and we will certainly provide live coverage. among our team members on this story, cnn's will ripley. he is live for us in beijing. and will and i have been using the word surreal over and over because as you can see from the map you have indonesia, singapore and malaysia. so these are similar waters in the region where mh 370 still unsolved unsolved. that airplane out there somewhere and now we have this. and people watching there that suffered so much there in beijing, who never saw their love

airasia's ceo tony fernandes called the discovery heartbreaking. >> this is a horrible, horrible experience. but we will try to do our best. that's our focus right now. >> reporter: among the 162 passengers and crew on board, there were 17 children and 1 infant. 26-year-old tina marie widodo was a biology teacher. her father and boyfriend were overcome with grief. while a friend of these passengers wrote, i hope this is just a nightmare that i can end by simply waking up. the pilot was captain irianto, a man with more than 20,000 hours in the cockpit. his daughter took to social media during the search pleading with her dad to come home writing, papa, come back. i still need you. return my papa to me. today his wife said, i must be strong and tough and i'm here for my children and their future. still, some weren't ready to give up hope. this woman saying, from the bottom of my heart, i want them to still be alive. as for that charter flight that airasia was going to give family members so that they could pray for their loved ones over the last known location of the plane, that has been post

airasia ceo tony fernandes tweeted, "this is my worst nightmare." the plane was flying from surabaya, indonesia, to malaysia when it last disappeared. last contact, 7:24 a.m. local time. that places it over the java sea. the airline says that the pilot had just asked permission to elevate, to fly higher to get around some really bad weather. it is not clear, though, if that was a factor. a full day of search on sunday failed to locate any part of the plane. the search ship remains in the water overnight. they're searching once again now on the water and also from the air. joining me to talk about all of this, again, let me bring in forensic audio expert, paul ginsberg, president of pro audio labs. les abend, flies a 777, also a contributing editor of "flying" magazine. les, this is a question we ask time and time again after mh-370 disappeared. and that is, realtime streaming data, why is it that we still do not have realtime streaming date to so that someone on the ground can no at all times exactly what's going in the cockpit, exactly what is happ

airasia's ceo is using social media. in a series of tweets tony fernandes called this his worst nightmare. keeping positive and staying strong. my heart bleeds for our crew and our passengers. those posts have been retweeted thousands of times. a new way of dealing with the public in a crisis i think. social media. also a new way for dealing with the crisis in a year with several very high profile crises and different reactions. >>> "early start" continues right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> grim news this morning in the search. the desperate search for airasia flight 8501. investigators revealing now they believe the missing plane and its 162 passengers is now at the bottom of the sea. we are bringing you live team coverage on the latest into the investigation. the search and what went wrong. they say early conjecture is that plane is missing in the ocean. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. monday 5:00 a.m. in the east. welcome to the viewers in the united states and around the world. we begin with airasi

he is with tony fernandes, as you said, we tony fernandes is the founder and ceo of airasia, he has beener napds, about his own personal heartache and personal pain sending out condolences to the family and trying to basically be with them if you like in their hour of need. so airasia staff are here. there are a lot of airasia staff here who have been tasked to look after individual members of families involved. but again they can only do so much john. this is now a process which is going to gh on for a few days as the bodies start coming back to surabaya it will be a difficult time for so many people. >> andrew stevens in is your buy yarks surabaya. our andrew stevens in surabaya, thanks so much. >>> we want to turn to paula hancocks she just got back to land after being out on a boat to see the search efforts firsthand. paula, i'm curious, what conditions were like when you were out on the water? that gives us an idea of what search crews are encountering. >> well michaela we were further west than the location we're talking about here. but certainly conditions were fairly good when we

airasia's ceo tony fernandes wrote "my heart is filled with sadness. on behalf of airasia, my condolences to all, words cannot express how sorry i am." he has met with many members of the family there is and is present in indonesia making sure they feel the sentiments of the airline. we want to talk about the other search, the search for answers into why that airbus 320 ended up in the water. richard quest has been very busy and he's here with me. richard, we know the evidence lies in the flight data recorders. talk to us about that. remind us how those boxes are designed to inform us what happened aboard the flight. >> okay. what those black boxes -- and there were two of them the cockpit voice recorder, that will be recording everything that is said in the cockpit, including all the surrounding noises over a two-hour period." built to withstand any impact. >> absolutely. certainly with the impact we're talking about here even in the shallow waters you haven't got the pressure of depth that we nave 370. so the cockpit voice recorder will tell us what t

. >> reporter: at surabaya, relatives were comforted by airasia's ceo tony fernandes who flew down hours after the disappearance. ? we don't want to speculate, until we find the aircraft, we'll look into it and see. >> reporter: a marked difference from the way malaysia handled mh 370. comparisons between the two flights are inevitable, but there are a lot of differences. unlike mh 370 which flew undetected for hours, air traffic control noticed immediately when it missing. this plan was not modified. >> this aircraft will be found. it's just going to take some time. >> reporter: and now there are more concerns about the weather. it's monsoon season in southeast asia and rain is expected for the next few days. while anguished relatives wait in singapore, the head of the indonesian search effort is preparing people for the worst. our evaluation of the coordinates that we received suggest that it is underkwater. so our presumption is that the plane is under the sea he told reporters. tonight more questions than answers and hope for anything but another airline tragedy. >> joining me now, m

just hours after the crash was confirmed, airasia ceo tony fernandes delivered a heartfelt apology. >only benefit for people in there there some closure. this is a scar for me for the rest of my life. it doesn't change anything. but with very little there is at least some closure, as opposed to not knowing what's happened and holding out hope. >> he has been tackling airasia first major crisis head on as chief executive. soon as the plane disappeared the ceo took to twitter. earlier fernandes posted that seeing the evacuees has been so destroying. and soon after the plane had disappeared, the company changed its logo from red to gray on its social media sites. fernandes is no stranger to tough challenges. back in 2001 he bought that failing company for a token 25 cents. the air carrier had two airplanes and $11 million in debt. he bought it for a quarter. now airasia is the largest low-cost carrier in the region. airasia had its biggest decline in more than three years. for the year the stock is still up. airasia one of those airlines synonymous with the big growth in travel over the

here is the airasia ceo, tony fernandes. >> our first priority now is to look after the families and do whatever we can. >> accuweather says there were storms along the flight path. >> libyan islamist militants set storage tanks ablaze on chris's dan while the fire has been extinct on three of those tanks, there is speculation that the escalating conflict in libya may tighten oil supplies. brent crude was up almost 2% in london. the international benchmark is still down about 46% this year. here in new york, a controversial protest of the funeral of a policeman who was gunned down with his partner. and number of new york city officers turned their backs on mayor bill de blasio when he spoke of the service on saturday. the cops were angry over what they see as a lack of support from the mayor. in the middle of this growing divide, police commissioner william bratton. >> it was inappropriate, and at the same time it was reflective of the feelings of some of our officers about not just of the mayor, but some of the many issues that have afflicted the city at this time in this particular

richard, we've heard from airasia ceo tony fernandes. he said the airline isn't sweeping changes at this point. he said he's open to making changes in the future. what does that indicate? should there be some sort of precautions that this airline or other airlines that use the a-320 should be taking right now? >> no. not really. because we don't know what the cause was. i mean arguably it looks like the weather was a major contributing factor but we don't know. why we don't know whether it was these pilots that merely made a bad decision or executed a poor decision. so in that environment, tony fernldes was quite right what he said today. we'll wait and see. he did also make it clear, as the chief exec he stands at the front. it is his airline. he is going to stand by the people by the victims, the victims' families and by his employees. and this is something that has been very interesting. very different from malaysia 317. very different from many air accidents where the chief exec is usually being buttressed by pr people saying don't s

we're also expecting the ceo of airasia to speak as well tony fernandes.e's speaking indonesian right now. so let he give you a quick recap of what has been asked. there was one particular question about whether the australian air force had found debris in the field. there had been some reports of that. the vice president saying at this point it is not clear. he was also asked is it possible that survivors may have been found. he said it's still possible but of course we have to realize that the worse may have happened. this terms of how long the search will continue for, he referenced the crash of air france 447. he said that took many months. in fact it took two years. it took them a couple days before they spotted the first debris floating on the water. he did say he hoped this search would happen as fast as possible theree there. there was no team limit, and he said fishermen had been involved in the search. we will continue this news conference coming to us from indonesia for any of the latest news. >> you've been watching our special coverage. >> up

we are getting more response now from some of the stake holders, including tony fernandes, ceo of airasiawitter. my heart is filled with sadness for all those involved in qz-8501. words cannot express how sorry i am. he also said i am rushing to surabaya. whatever we can do at airasia, we will be doing. we certainly hope that includes continued support for the families during this difficult time. the coming hours and days are going to be excruciatingly difficult for the families who came to surabaya and have been waiting near the airport and waiting in hotels hoping that there would be good news. perhaps the plane went down on land and possible survivors. now, these people are going to have to identify their parents and children and they will need a lot of support in the days ahead. it's a horrible situation. >> difficult days ahead. will ripley thanks so much. >> we are continuing to follow the latest on airasia flight 8501 all morning long. investigators are 95% certain what you see there is debris from the vanished jetliner. our live team coverage continues as we learn more about what

airasia's ceo was quick to reach out to the families. tony fernandes tweeting "my heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in 8501. on behalf of airasia my condolences to all." let's those the needian city of surabaya where the flight originated and where distraught family members have been huddling these last agonizing days. cnn's senior producer david molko is there with more. hi david. >> reporter: good evening from here in surabaya, the crisis center at the airport. earlier this is where families of the 162 people on board that flight passengers and crew came to hear the news that it was very likely that their loved ones would not be coming home. carol, tonight this is fundamentally a country in mourning. this is a human tragedy, the country of indonesia has not seen this in some time. and you talk to family members here we just spoke to a couple they had four family members on board, including two grandchildren traveling for holiday to singapore and now they're hearing with almost certainty that their relatives will not be coming

. >> reporter: tony fernandes, chief executive of airasia, a budget carrier based in malaysia, also cautioned against speculation. >> we do not know what's happened yet, so we'll wait for the accident investigation to really find out what's happened. our concern right now is for the relatives and for the next of kin, there is nothing more important to us for our crew's family, and for our passengers' families, that we look after them. >> reporter: airasia has had a clean safety record since the company began operating in malaysia 13 years ago. the plane that went missing had undergone maintenance just a month before. last march malaysia airlines flight 370 disappeared with 239 people aboard, on route from kuala lumpur to beijing. it's never been found. in july, malaysia airlines flight 17 was shot down over eastern ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. >> sreenivasan: a ferry carrying nearly 500 passengers and crew is on fire in the adriatic sea and a rescue mission is underway. italian and greek helicopter crews are airlifting passengers off the vessel, despite heavy rain and strong wind

airasia's ceo is using social media. in a series of tweets tony fernandes called this his worst nightmare. keeping positive and staying strong. my heart bleeds for our crew and our passengers. those posts have been retweeted thousands of times. a new way of dealing with the public in a crisis i think. social media. also a new way for dealing with the crisis in a year with several very high profile crises and different reactions. >>> "early start" continues right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> grim news this morning in the search. the desperate search for airasia flight 8501. investigators revealing now they believe the

airasia the parent company. that's the parent company owned and run, or run by tony fernandes. ia. which is an operating company. it's branded airasia. it's a low-cost airline. it's based in jakarta. it operates domestic and international services. and it is an associate of airasia. airasia has a sizable stake in it. but we do know, and this is where i'm going to qualify things i was talking about earlier now we have a moment or two longer. we do know there have been problems with indonesian air carriers before. there was one point -- and i'm not suggesting for a moment that that's relevant here, aisha. i'm just putting it on the table. that the airline we're talking about here is indonesian airasia, which is a branded subsidiary in which the main company, airasia, has a sizable stake. so that gives you an idea of how this actually comes together. indonesian airlines have had a dramatic improvement in air safety in recent years, but there was a time when they were actually having problems and they weren't allowed to fly indonesian carriers to the european union because of safety

. >> the ceo of airasia says the disappearance of 85010 is his worst nightmare. tony fernandes was briefing distraught family members about the missing plane. that is where the flight originated. he's been active on social media since news broke of the plane's disappearance. he said he is touched by the massive show of support, especially from fellow airlines. this is my worst nightmare, but there is no stopping. >> this is a nightmare for the families of those on board flight 8501 and we are learning more about the passengers and the loved ones who are hoping to hear from them again. nick valencia has the details. >> reporter: we want to try to give you meaning to these numbers, 162 souls on board this airasia flight that disappeared. 162 people all with their own unique individual stories, and we know that they were from a variety of backgrounds. the majority of them on this flight were from indonesia, with a handful from south korea. others from laid, singapore and at least two people from europe. one u.k. national. one french national. the name of the co-pilot has been repo

communication between the airline, the government and the families, a tweet from tony fernand fernandez, ceo of airasiaxt of kin if my staff and passengers. we continue to pass information as it comes. again, we know he is in en route to surabaya where this plane took off. >> we do. he is a very media savvy ceo. we heard reports when he flies on the planes, he doesn't ask for the best seat but perhaps a seat closer to back so that passengers can have a better seat. he is certainly very aware of public perception, crisis management and this social media age. and he knows that the number one priority is to communicate directly to the families. that why you felt surabaya was the place to be as ceo. we'll see him giving information to those people and then probably also talking to the media there as well. >> and will, paint a picture if you will for us. i know they've been separated from the rest in the airport. what kind of services are being offered to them now? what kind of information can they get now even though it's very, very early in this whole thing? >> certainly they will be deploying if they hav

. >> reporter: so tony fernandes has airasia listed in trade here today with shares crushed finishing down 8.5% in one session. at one point they were down 13%. before this incident airasia shares were up a fifth year to date. back to you. >> thank you, martin. we appreciate that. thank you very much. a lot of speculation, andrew these are very safe planes. interesting. that part time of the world, we don't -- we don't know at this point. >> we're going to talk to an aviation analyst in a little bit. but you know i'm an anxious flyer, so these kind of situations with an airbus -- >> as we talked about 2014 being one of the deadliest years but not here. not domestically, right? >> so then the question is is it pilot error or mechanical failure? >> god knows in that part of the world. people are still working 24 hours a day in certain parts of the world to figure out ways of getting on board planes undetected with -- you know they are still trying. i have no idea what happened here. and they had bad weather. right? i'm sure i know this is the third one, right? in that part of the world.

. >>> the ceo of airasia says the airline is prepared to offer compensation for the missing passengers. tony fernandes saying they will file regulations for families with ins. >> today a charles county corporal will be laid to rest. corporal jamel clagett died in a crash last week. he was 30 years old. his funeral is in wardorf today. poplar hill road and others will be closed starting at morning. >>> with gas prices falling every day, some of you could be in for an unwelcomed surprise come the new year. megan mcgrath is live in alexandria to tell us about the new commonwealth tax. megan? >> repor that'right, aaron. gas prices have been going down for months. take a look at the gas station between me here in alexandria. $2.39 for a gallon of regular. that could go up in virginia. we could see an increase in gas prices as much as 5 cents come january the 1st. state lawmakers have been counting on revenue from an internet commerce bill that's being debated up on capitol hill to pay for millions of dollars in road projects in virginia. but that measure is hung up in congress and hasn't passed. so the fal

. >>> well, the ceo of the airasia group says the airline is prepared to off compensation for the missing passengers. tony fernandes says the company will follow indonesian regulations for insurance. families of the passengers will be notified on the insurance procedures. he says the airline is running normally. >>> you can get push alerts right on your phone. just download the nbc washington app as we continue to update this breaking news story. >> a lot of people are expected to attend a funeral for a fallen corporal today. jamel died last week. his funeral will be later this afternoon at st. peter's church and at 8:00 they will close poplar hill road. >>> and new this morning, there's a new report on the number of officers who were killed in 2014. 126 officers died this year. that's twot year. however, the number is more than 40 fewer than three years ago. the report is released twice a year by that organization. >>> in d.c. neighbors want police to do more about a recent spike in crime. there was a new shooting overnight on nanny avenue in northeast d.c. now it was not deadly but three others in the last two da

airasia, all the search teams are focusing their efforts around that site. divers and sonar combing the ocean floor hoping to ind into the main cabin of the plane. earlier today, the company's ceo, tony fernandes, indicated that the floating debris is from 8501. >> it's probably an airline ceo's worst nightmare after 13 years of flying millions of people it's the worst feeling that one could happen. >> fernandes says their focus will remain on focusing on the remains and the passengers and hopefully closure for loved ones still waiting to find out for sure, for absolute certain, what happened to their family members. >>> now, while the discovery of debris is no doubt a gut punch to anyone who had been holding out any hope that there may have been survivors, analysts can now use that information to start to piece together just what may have brought down this plane. let's bring in cnn aviation cropped rene marsh. what are people saying about what they found and how does it reshape the next steps in the search? >> well jake no doubt today was a turning point. they want to answer the primary question what brought down this plane? >> reporter: for the first time we hear voices from the cockpit of f

airasia has chartered a flight that will circle the islands so family and friends can play over the area where the plane lost contact. tony fernandes tweeting my heart bleeds for all the relatives of my crew and passengers. nothing is more important to us. halfway into its journey from indonesia to singapore, seconds before it dropped off radar, pilots requested to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid bad weather but their request was denied because of air traffic. now as it looks like a debris field has been spotted, investigators will begin to piece together how it all happened and if weather was, in fact to blame. >> clearly the investigators are on target. they will now begin in earnest, as long as there is daylight to recover the bodies the personal effects, the wreckage from the plane and also look for the black boxes that are located in the tail of the plane. >> reporter: even more bad news for airasia as another one of its flights overshot the runway in the philippines. everyone on board was okay. as for 8501 willie it is important to note this is still a search and rescue. back to you. >> katy tur on this story in singapore for us