Authorities don’t yet know why the plane crashed into the sea December 28 while en route to Singapore from the Indonesian city of Surabaya.
Roughly 35 minutes into the flight, the pilot asked air traffic control for permission to turn left and climb to avoid bad weather. Minutes later, the plane disappeared from air traffic control’s radar, Indonesian officials say.
Now that the fuselage has been found, here are some of the tasks that are ahead for searchers and authorities:
Recovery of the plane, bodies
The fuselage discovery adds to the significant finds elsewhere in the Java Sea. Authorities earlier this week recovered the plane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders — which will help investigators determine what happened to the flight — and lifted the tail section of the craft from the sea on Saturday.
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That is below the amount guaranteed by the Montreal Convention, a treaty that governs compensation for the families of air disaster victims. But Indonesia did not sign the treaty.
Families may be able to pursue larger claims through courts, CNNMoney reported.
It could be some time before the families to receive AirAsia’s payments. In the case of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished in March, families received some initial payments but final amounts haven’t been settled, according to CNNMoney.
CNN’s Jethro Mullen, Kocha Olarn, Elizabeth Joseph, Andrew Stevens, Mitra Mobasherat, Gary Tuchman, Brian Walker, Catherine E. Shoichet, Josh Levs and Deborah E. Bloom, CNNMoney’s Virginia Harrison, and journalist Rudy Madanir contributed to this report.
