Germanwings Flight 9525 (4U9525GWI18G) was a scheduled international passenger flight from BarcelonaEl Prat Airport in Spain to Dsseldorf Airport in Germany. The flight was operated by Germanwings, a low-cost carrier owned by the German airline Lufthansa. On 24 March 2015, the aircraft, an Airbus A320-211, crashed 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-west of Nice in the French Alps after a constant descent that began one minute after the last routine contact with air traffic control and shortly after it had reached its assigned cruising altitude. All 144 passengers and six crew members were killed. It was Germanwings’ first fatal crash in the 18-year history of the company.