Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes, who is also the boss of AirAsia, has expressed his sorrow for the passengers and crew on board missing Flight QZ8501.
The Airbus 320-200, which lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control on Saturday evening, was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members during its journey from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore.
Fernandes, who is the airline's chief executive, wrote on Twitter: "Keeping positive and staying strong. My heart bleeds for all the relatives of my crew and our passengers. Nothing is more important to us.
"The staff have been brave, strong, committed and doing 150 percent for all our guests. My pride for them is enormous."
Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo claimed today that the aircraft is likely to have crashed and fallen to "the bottom of the sea".