Airline share prices have been hit after officials reveal co-pilot of Germanwings 4U9525 intended to “destroy the plane”

Update: Airline share prices were down almost universally today, as more details emerged of the Germanwings flight 4U9525 that crashed on Tuesday. 

 

Among the biggest fallers were British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines and Delta.

 

The share price of Lufthansa – which owns Germanwings – also dropped further, closing down 3.1 per cent. 

 

It has fallen more than 8.5 per cent since news about the crash first circulated on Tuesday morning. 

 

A number of other European airlines also ended the day down.

 

Shares in Airbus, which manufactured the place that crashed, were up 1.9 per cent in afternoon trading, though the share price is still down since the incident occurred. 

Investigators this morning said the German co-pilot, who was named as 28-year-old Andreas Lubitz, had sole control of the Airbus A320 and it was his “intention to destroy this plane”. 

 

Marseille public prosecutor Brice Robin said they did not believe it was an act of terrorism, and although he declined to call the action a suicide, acknowledged it was “a legitimate question to ask”. 

 

Lubitz was breathing normally at the point of contact, and “he did not utter a single word” during the descent.