Jessica Menton -
Shares of Airbus Group NV EPA:AIR dropped nearly 2 percent Tuesday after an A320 passenger plane carrying 150 people crashed in the French Alps. The plane was operated by Germanwings, a budget airline owned by Deutsche Lufthansa (XETRA:LHAG), whose shares tumbled more than 5 percent following the initial reports of the crash.
Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 was traveling from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf Germany, later crashing near Barcelonnette, France, a town in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. "The conditions of the accident, which have not yet been clarified, lead us to think there are no survivors," French President Francois Hollande announced Tuesday.
European Airbus Group, the world's second-largest aerospace group after Boeing Co . NYSE:BA, announced plans last month to increase production of its narrow body A320 to 50 a month. In February, the company reported that earnings, excluding items, rose 54 percent last year, to 4 billion euros ($4.56 billion), as revenue gained 5 percent, to 60.7 billion euros ($66.4 billion).
Shares of Airbus Group dropped more than 2 percent Tuesday, to 59.14 euros in Paris, while Lufthansa's stock price plunged more than 5 percent, to 13.07 euros in Frankfurt. Meanwhile, American low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines Incorporated NASDAQ:SAVE edged down 0.62 percent, to $77.23, on the Nasdaq, while Irish low-cost airline Ryanair Holdings NASDAQ:RYAAY traded flat, up just 0.08 percent, to $65.26.
Following the opening bell in U.S. financial markets, shares of American Airlines Group Inc. NASDAQ:AAL, Delta Air Lines, Inc. NYSE:DAL and Southwest Airlines Co. NYSE:LUV all edged lower.
Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa's CEO said on Twitter that it would be a "dark day" for the airline.
We do not yet know what has happened to flight 4U 9525. My deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends of our passengers and crew on 4U 9525. If our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for Germanwings."