germanwings (4U, Cologne/Bonn) has been forced to ground some aircraft in its fleet as employees struggle to come to terms with the aftermath of the crash of A320-200 D-AIPX (cn 147) in the French Alps on Tuesday this week. Operating as flight 4U9525 from Barcelona El Prat to Düsseldorf, the accident killed all 144 passengers and 6 crew on-board.

Austrian Aviation Net says numerous airline crew are too grief stricken to operate their aircraft resulting in the chartering of additional equipment from parent Lufthansa, Air Berlin (1991), Niki (Austria), Titan Airways, Germania, Belair Airlines and TUI fly (Germany) to help cover the operational shortfall.

The budget carrier operates forty-three A319-100s, twenty-one A320-200s, and twenty-one CRJ900s with an overall mean fleet age of 10.7 years. Some of the aircraft are operated by sister carrier Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf).