Germanwings crash prompts Lufthansa insurers to set aside $300M for claims

Lufthansa says its insurers are setting aside $300 million to deal with possible costs resulting from last week's crash of a Germanwings jet in the French Alps, in which 150 people died.

Lufthansa spokeswoman Kerstin Lau confirmed a report on the set-aside in the daily Handelsblatt on Tuesday. She said $300 million is the amount currently reserved to deal with "all costs arising in connection with the case."

Last week, the company offered immediate aid of up to 50,000 euros ($54,250) per passenger to relatives of the victims. Those payments are separate from eventual compensation payments.

Prosecutors believe, based on data from the cockpit voice recorder, that the Airbus A320's co-pilot locked his captain out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed Flight 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf last Tuesday.