AirAsia did not have official permission to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on the day of the crash, it has emerged.

The airline was officially licensed for four other days of the week according to reports, although the BBC said a statement from the civil aviation authority in Singapore had said AirAsia did have permission from it to operate the flight daily.

The Indonesian authorities have suspended the company’s flights on this route pending an investigation.

AirAsia, which has previously had an excellent safety record with no fatal accidents involving its aircraft, said it would “fully cooperate”.

Djoko Murjatmojo from the transportation ministry told a press conference this morning that the air traffic control officer at Juanda airport in Surabaya, where flight QZ8501 took off from, had been temporarily suspended.

He also said that AirAsia had violated the flight permission for the Singpore-Surabaya route for at least two months prior to the accident, the BBC said.

The plane, which was carrying 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, as well as two pilots and five crew, was two hours into a three hour flight when it disappeared from the radar. Thirty-seven bodies have so far been recovered.