At Cairo airport, authorities ushered families of the passengers and crew into a closed-off waiting area.
However, two women and a man, who said they were related to a crew member, were seen leaving the VIP hall where families were being kept. Asked for details, the man said: "We don't know anything, they don't know anything. No one knows anything."
Ayman Nassar, from the family of one of the passengers, also walked out of the passenger hall with his daughter and wife in a distressed state. "They told us the plane had disappeared, and that they're still searching for it and not to believe any rumours," he said.
A mother of flight attendant rushed out of the hall in tears. She said the last time her daughter called her was Wednesday night. "They haven't told us anything," she said.
EgyptAir said on its Twitter account that Flight MS804 had departed Paris at 11:09pm (CEST). It disappeared at 2.30 am at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,280 metres) in Egyptian air space, about 280 km (165 miles) from the Egyptian coast before it was due to land at 3.15 am.
"There was nothing unusual," EgyptAir vice chairman Ahmed Adel told Reuters. "The search and rescue aircraft from the Egyptian air force are at the position where we lost contact. They are still looking and so far there is nothing found."
In Paris, a police source said investigators were now interviewing officers who were on duty at Roissy airport on Wednesday evening to find out whether they heard or saw anything suspicious. "We are in the early stage here," the source said.
Airbus said the missing A320 had been delivered to EgyptAir in November 2003 and had operated about 48,000 flight hours.
Greece said it had deployed aircraft and a frigate to the area to help with the search. A Greek defence ministry source said authorities were also investigating an account from the captain of a merchant ship who reported a 'flame in the sky' about 130 nautical miles south of the island of Karpathos.
An informed source at EGYPTAIR reported that EGYPTAIR Flight No MS 804 has lost communication with radar tracking system at 02:45 (CLT)
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) May 19, 2016
The weather was clear at the time the plane disappeared, according to Eurocontrol, the European air traffic network. "Our daily weather assessment does not indicate any issues in that area at that time," it said.
Speed and altitude data from aviation website FlightRadar24.com indicated the plane was cruising at the time it disappeared.
French President Francois Hollande's office said the French leader had just spoken to his Egyptian counterpart and that both sides would cooperate closely.
Under UN aviation rules, Egypt will automatically lead an investigation into the accident assisted by countries including France, if it is confirmed that an Airbus jet was involved.
"We are in close contact with the Egyptian authorities, both civil and military," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told French radio. "At this stage, no theory can be ruled out regarding the causes of the disappearance."
With its ancient archeological sites and Red Sea resorts, Egypt is a popular destination for Western tourists. But the industry was badly hit following the downing of a Russian jet last year, an insurgency and a string of bomb attacks in the country.
An Airbus A321 operated by Russia's Metrojet crashed in the Sinai on October 31, 2015, killing all 224 people on board. Russia and Western governments have said the plane was probably brought down by a bomb.
The crash called into question Egypt's campaign to eradicate militancy and has damaged its tourism industry, a cornerstone of the economy.
Militants have stepped up attacks on Egyptian soldiers and police since Sisi, as army chief, toppled freely elected President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
In March, an EgyptAir plane flying from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus by a man with what authorities said was a fake suicide belt. He was arrested after giving himself up.
EgyptAir has a fleet of 57 Airbus and Boeing jets, including 15 of the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, according to airfleets.com.
The last fatal incident involving an EgyptAir aircraft was in May 2002, when a Boeing 737 crashed into a hill while on approach to Tunis-Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people.
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