Insurers earmark $300m for Germanwings crash

FRANKFURT - Insurers are setting aside $300 million (279 million euros) in provisions for the air crash in the French Alps that killed 150 people, German airline Lufthansa said on Tuesday.

The sum includes financial compensation for the families of the people who died and the cost of the Airbus A320 jet itself, which belonged to the low-cost carrier Germanwings, a spokeswoman for parent company Lufthansa told AFP.

She was confirming a corresponding report in the financial daily Handelsblatt.

Relatives of the Germanwings Airbus A320 crash victims gather by a stele during a wreath-laying and remembrance ceremony in the small village of Le Vernet on March 26, 2015. A German Airbus A320 of the low-cost carrier Germanwings crashed on March 24, killing all 150 people on board. AFP PHOTO / PASCAL GUYOT

The current list price of an Airbus A320 jet is $93.9 million.

According to Handelsblatt, the consortium of insurers is headed by German giant Allianz.

When contacted by AFP, Allianz was not immediately prepared to comment.

A helicopter lifts an investigator on March 26, 2015 near scattered debris on the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps above the southeastern town of Seyne. The young co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings flight that crashed on March 24, appears to have "deliberately" crashed the plane into the French Alps after locking his captain out of the cockpit, but is not believed to be part of a terrorist plot, French officials said on March 26, 2015. AFP PHOTO / ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT

The Germanwings flight en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf crashed a week ago.

Investigators evaluating voice recorder data say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz apparently locked his captain out of the cockpit and slammed the plane into a French mountainside.

The flight crashed at a speed of 700 kilometres (430 miles) an hour, instantly killing all on board.

On Monday, the director of operations at Germanwings, Oliver Wagner, had said that the company would immediately compensate each family with 50,000 euros ($54,000).

This sum would not be deducted from any final compensation deal.

AFP