Lufthansa says Germanwings crash scarred it forever

The Germanwings crash has left permanent scars on parent airline Lufthansa, its chief executive told shareholders at their annual meeting today, which started with a minute's silence to honour the dead.
"This tragedy has changed us and the scars that it has left on our company will remain forever," CEO Carsten Spohr told some 2,000 shareholders in the northern German port city of Hamburg.
A jet from Germanwings, the low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa, crashed in the French Alps on March 24 -- apparently in a deliberate act by the co-pilot -- killing all 150 people on board.
"The entire Lufthansa family is in mourning," said supervisory board chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber who formally opened the annual general meeting with the minute's silence.

A book of condolences lay open for shareholders to sign in the huge congress centre where the meeting was being held.
Spohr said Lufthansa would "stand by... And support" the families and friends of the people who died.

"We consider this not only our obligation, but also a deep need," he said.
He vowed that Lufthansa "will continue to gradually expand our leading position in the area of flight safety, by continuing to develop our safety structures".
The media and public opinion in Germany have been generally lenient towards Lufthansa since it emerged that the disaster was likely a deliberate act by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who had been diagnosed as suicidal in the past.

Doctors had recently found no sign that he intended to harm himself or others, but he was receiving treatment from neurologists and psychiatrists who had signed him off sick from work a number of times, including on the day of the crash.
Police found torn-up sick notes during a search of his apartment after the crash.
Instead, public debate has focused more on the possible softening of medical confidentiality rules and requiring at least two people to be in an airplane's cockpit at all times.
Despite the deep shock and sadness that the crash caused in Germany, Lufthansa shareholders have other things on their minds, such as the airline's poor financial performance and management's decision to waive dividend payments.

Investors are also concerned about how management plans to tackle cut-throat competition in the sector, not only from the German group's European rivals, but also from Gulf region carriers and budget airlines.