Insurers set aside $300 mln in provisions for Germanwings crash: Lufthansa

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.

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.

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.