"Out of respect for the victims of flight 4U 9525, Lufthansa is cancelling the celebrations planned for April 15th on the 60th anniversary of its existence," a statement on the company website read.

Instead, the company will take part in the national day of mourning on April 17th at Cologne Cathedral, where relatives and friends of those killed will also be present.

CEO Carsten Spohr had previously called the crash of Germanwings flight 4U9525 with 150 people on board “the blackest day in the 60-year history of our company”.

French investigators currently believe that the Airbus A320 was deliberately crashed into the mountainside by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who appears to have locked his captain out of the cockpit after he left to use the toilet.

The airline was founded in 1955, ten years after the end of the Second World War and the dissolution of the original Lufthansa, founded in 1926.

It began with a regular air transport service within Germany in its first month before extending flights to London, Paris, Madrid and New York.

The company has grown from 2,000 workers at its founding to a 118,000-strong behemoth, with 70,000 of those employees at home in Germany.

SEE ALSO: Lufthansa questions 60th anniversary jubilee