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Lufthansa offering $54K to Germanwings plane crash families

By Danielle Haynes
Handout pictures dated 26 March 2015 shows rescue workers at the site where the A320 Lufthansa passenger aircraft crashed in a mountain range of the French Alps. The plane heading to Dusseldorf from Barcelona with 150 people onboard was allegedly taken down by its co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, there were no survivors. Photo by Fabrice Balsamo/MI DICOM/UPI
Handout pictures dated 26 March 2015 shows rescue workers at the site where the A320 Lufthansa passenger aircraft crashed in a mountain range of the French Alps. The plane heading to Dusseldorf from Barcelona with 150 people onboard was allegedly taken down by its co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, there were no survivors. Photo by Fabrice Balsamo/MI DICOM/UPI | License Photo

COLOGNE, Germany, March 27 (UPI) -- German airline giant Lufthansa announced Friday it would pay out $54,000 per passenger who died on the Germanwings Flight 9525 to the families of the victims.

The airline said this is an initial payout and would not affect the families' potential attempts to make further claims against the airline.

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"Of course we can't compensate materially for the lives of those lost, but we wanted to provide some immediate financial help to the affected families," said a spokeswoman for Germanwings, a budget carrier operating under Lufthansa.

One hundred and fifty people died on board the Airbus A320 when it crashed Tuesday in the French Alps. French investigators said the incident took place after the plane's pilot left co-pilot Andreas Lubitz alone in the cockpit. The pilot was then unable to get back into the cockpit, the door to which was locked.

Lubitz is accused of then intentionally lowering the plane's altitude until it crashed.

In the wake of the incident, several European and Canadian airlines changed their policies to incorporate the so-called "rule of two." This rule is already mandated in the United States by the Federal Aviation Administration, which says there must be two crew members in the cockpit at all times.

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Lufthansa announced Friday it has now joined other airlines voluntarily adopting the rule. The airline says it is also creating a group safety pilot position to manage all flight safety procedures.

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