Next Tuesday will mark eleven years since the tragedy of Germanwings flight 9525, which left 150 dead after crashing into the Alps. This Sunday a tribute ceremony was held outside the El Prat Airport in which, in addition to the family members, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the president of the Catalan Chamber, Josep Rull, participated. The main victims’ association has criticized the absence of Lufthansa, the company’s parent company.
The act of remembrance consisted of a one minute of silence outside the airport that serves the Catalan capital. The president of the association of those affected by the tragedy, Lourdes Bonet, has remembered the victims and has recalled their desire to transform suffering into action.” Bonet has also highlighted the absence of Lufthansa in the tribute. “Their decision is perceived as a departure from moral responsibility towards the victims,” she said. Lufthansa did not explain, when asked by this newspaper, the reason for its absence.
“Remembering from serenity is always positive and the best tribute to the people who lost their lives,” Illa assured. “We have a collective duty, in capital letters, not to forget and to make tragedy the generation of positive elements,” added the leader of the Catalan Chamber, Josep Rull.
On March 14, 2015, an Airbus A320 that took off from Barcelona bound for Düsseldorf ended up crashing in the Alps, after a deliberate fall. Among the 150 people, the total number of passengers and crew, there were dozens of Spanish citizens. The investigation of the events concluded that the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, had blocked the cockpit door and initiated the impact trajectory by decision.
In the wake of the fatal accident, which opened an intense debate about safety and mental health within the world of aviation, several protocols were reviewed. However, affected families continue to demand greater transparency and far-reaching regulatory changes. The co-pilot had hidden from the airline a medical leave due to psychological problems. Furthermore, the security mechanisms reinforced after the 9/11 attacks were those that precisely prevented the commander from taking control, since Lubitz blocked access.
Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, closed in 2020. The accident led to some changes in commercial aviation. For example, the Spanish Union of Airline Pilots (Sepla) explains that since then it has been required that there always be at least two people in the cabin. Mandatory psychological support programs for crews were also created, designed to detect situations of stress or vulnerability in time.
