A search and rescue operation for an Air Asia flight that went missing en route to Singapore from Indonesia with 162 people on board has been halted for the day.

The airline said the Airbus A320-200 was lost from the radar at 7.24am (local time), after asking to fly higher to avoid clouds.

AirAsia said there were 155 passengers on board, including 16 children and one infant. Also on board were two pilots and five cabin crew.

The airline said there were 149 Indonesian passengers, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one Briton.

Six of the crew were Indonesian, the other being from France, the airline said.

Indonesian authorities said the search will resume early Monday morning.

See how events unfolded across Sunday in our blog or read the story.