“We won't only help this week,” Spohr said, with Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann at his side.

“We will help for as long as help is needed.”

He added that he remained deeply grief-stricken by the disaster and that “nothing will be as it was before.”

Spohr went on to say that he was “deeply impressed by the professionalism, the energy, the empathy and the sympathy” of the French rescue workers and local people, and promised to help them come to terms with the tragedy as well.

He and Winkelmann are expected to meet relatives of the victims later on Wednesday in Marseille.

The two executives did not take questions or comment on Tuesday's news that 4U9525 co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, suspected of having crashed the plane deliberately, had reported his depression to flight instructors before qualifying as a pilot.

Town plans memorial service

In North Rhine-Westphalia, the small town of Haltern am See will come together on Wednesday afternoon for a service in memory of local victims.

Two teachers and 16 pupils from the town's secondary school were killed in the Germanwings crash on their way home from a language exchange near Barcelona.

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