Crew refuse to fly, flights canceled
March 25, 2015
Germanwings had to cancel seven flights out of Düsseldorf because crew members felt they were unable to fly in the wake of the Flight 9525 crash.
"Some have refused their service for personal reasons, but not out of concern that something there is out of order," a spokeswoman for Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, told the dpa news agency.
The Germanwings flight, en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, crashed in a remote area of the French Alps near the town of Seyne-Les-Alpes shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday, killing all 150 people on board.
Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa, said he understood the crews' concerns following the tragedy.
"One must not forget: many of our Germanwings crews have known crew members who were on board the crashed plane," Spohr said.
"It is now more important to ensure psychological assistance if needed. And we will get back to a full flight operation as soon as possible then. But for me, this is rather secondary now," he said.
As of Wednesday morning, few flights appeared to be canceled at Cologne/Bonn Airport.
bw/rc (dpa, AP)