Map of the route and area where Air France flight AF447 vanished from radar. Source: Guardian • Airbus A330 flying from Brazil to Paris disappears over Atlantic
• Airline and ministers all but abandon hope for 228 on board
- guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 June 2009 14.03 BST
They believe the Airbus A330-200 aircraft crashed after running into lightning and thunderstorms over the Atlantic Ocean.
"We are probably facing an air catastrophe," the Air France chief executive, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, told a news conference.
He said the aircraft went through a thunderstorm with strong turbulence at around 3am BST.
An automated message was received at 3.14am indicating a failure of the electrical system, Air France said in a statement.
"The whole company shares the anxiety of of the families," Gourgeon said. "We are doing everything possible to get information through, little by little, as it comes through."
Sky News reported that Britons were on a list of passengers due to take the fight.
Brazilian air force planes are searching the Atlantic for flight AF447, which left Rio de Janeiro at 7pm local time (11pm BST) yesterday. It had been expected in Paris at 11.15am today .
Brazilian air force officials told the Associated Press that a search was under way near the island of Fernando de Noronha, about 1,500 miles north-east of Rio.
An Air France source was quoted as saying that there was "no hope" for those on board.
Jean-Louis Borloo, the second most senior figure in the French cabinet, said: "By now it would be beyond its kerosene [aviation fuel] reserves ... unfortunately we must now envisage the most tragic scenario."
Borloo told the France Info radio station that the plane had disappeared from both military and civilian radar screens.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, expressed "extreme worry" and sent the junior minister for transport, Dominique Bussereau, and Borloo to Charles de Gaulle airport to monitor the situation.
The Air France flight was full – today is a French bank holiday and Brazil is an increasingly popular tourist destination among the French.
At midday, the flight was still up on the arrivals board with the word "delayed" beside it, even after official statements that it had probably been lost. By 1pm, it had been removed from the board.
Relatives and friends of passengers who had arrived at Charles de Gaulle's terminal two to meet the plane were ushered into a closed area, away from journalists, where they were being counselled by airport staff.
A former pilot told France Info he believed the plane was the first passenger-carrying Airbus A330 to crash. The model is known as having a good safety record.
The plane was carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew. The Italian Ansa press agency reported that five Italians citizens were on board.
According to the French media, Paris airport authorities were told by their Brazilian counterparts that the aircraft had vanished from radar screens.
France Info quoted an airport authority source as saying it was possible but extremely unlikely that the radar drop-out had been caused by a transmitter failure.
Chris Yates, an aviation expert, told the BBC: "There is not radar coverage across the Atlantic because it is too far from radar stations.
"But the fact [the plane] has not appeared on radar when it neared land gives me cause for concern."
He said that "if we are talking about an aircraft coming down over the ocean ... then survivability is quite limited".
David Gleave, another aviation expert, told the BBC: "We are running out of time for the plane to reappear, given the amount of fuel it had on it.
"Had it been a communication problem, it would have appeared now on Spanish or French radar or Brazilian, had it turned around.
"The first thing is to find out where it is. It may have been reporting its position by satellite. It is very unusual that there is no location information."
The A330-200 model has not had any fatal accidents involving passengers. In June 1994, an A330 owned by Airbus on a test flight simulating an engine failure on take-off crashed shortly after leaving Toulouse, killing all seven people on board.
In October last year, a Qantas A330 flying from Singapore to Perth reportedly experienced a sudden change in altitude.
The crew issued a mayday call before diverting the aircraft. About 36 passengers and crew members were injured, more than a dozen seriously.
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