The contact was lost about 42 minutes after takeoff from Indonesia's Surabaya airport, Hadi Mustofa, an official of the transportation ministry told Indonesia's MetroTV.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC, the airline said. Search and rescue operations are under way.
The plane had six crew and 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant, the general manager of Surabaya's Juanda airport, Trikora Raharjo, told The Associated Press.
Six foreigners were on the plane: three South Koreans including an infant and one each from Singapore, British and Malaysia, said Raharjo. The rest were Indonesians, he said.
The plane lost contact when it was believed to be over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java islands, Mustofa said. The weather in the area was cloudy.
The Singapore aviation authority said Jakarta ground control was informed it about the missing plane by about half an hour after contact was lost.
"Search and rescue operations have been activated by the Indonesian authorities," it said, adding that the Singapore air force and the navy also were activated with two C-130 planes.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing in the region in March 2014.
source: usatoday.com