ROME — The pilot of the plane that disappeared Jan. 4 over Venezuela with the CEO of Italian fashion house Missoni and five others on board had an expired medical fitness certificate, and the company operating the aircraft did not yet have permission to fly, Italy’s air safety agency said Tuesday.

The National Flight Safety Agency stressed that at the moment, neither factor ‘‘represents a direct, correlating cause’’ of the disappearance, but are merely facts gathered in the investigation.