Germanwings crash relatives sue German aviation office for compensation in Braunschweig court

Lawsuit against aviation regulators

Eleven years after Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 was brought down in the French Alps, 30 bereaved relatives have appeared before the Regional Court in Braunschweig to seek compensation from the German state. The civil lawsuit, filed in early July 2023, targets the Federal Republic of Germany through its aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Office (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt), which is based in Braunschweig. Each plaintiff is demanding additional damages ranging from 500 euros to 110,000 euros. The plaintiffs argue that state authorities breached their official duties by failing to properly monitor whether the co-pilot was medically and psychologically fit to operate commercial flights. A court spokeswoman confirmed after the opening session that the judges will issue a decision on 6 October 2026. That decision may take the form of a final ruling or a procedural order to commence formal evidence gathering.

Grounds of the negligence claim

The crash on 24 March 2015 killed all 150 people on board during a scheduled flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. Subsequent official investigations determined that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately steered the aircraft into a mountainside after locking the captain out of the cockpit during a bathroom break. Lubitz had concealed an active medical sick note covering the day of the flight, having searched online for suicide methods and cockpit door locking mechanisms in the preceding days. The plaintiffs assert that aeromedical examinations failed to evaluate psychiatric illnesses thoroughly enough to detect his condition. Plaintiff Klaus Radner stated that Lubitz had consulted 40 doctors while believing he was going blind, yet none of those physicians knew he was an active pilot.

Emotional toll and plaintiffs' reactions

For the relatives present in the courtroom, the start of proceedings renewed the distress caused by the disaster. Engelbert Tegethoff, who lost his daughter in the crash, described the difficulty of reliving the events in court.

I knew roughly what would come out of it, but hearing all that again today brings all the pictures back to the surface.

Klaus Radner, a 71-year-old plaintiff from Düsseldorf who lost his daughter, grandson, and daughter's partner, emphasized that the lawsuit was driven by a desire for institutional accountability rather than financial gain.

I am angry and desperate in the sense that no one is able to tell me who takes responsibility there.

Radner added that he had previously filed criminal complaints against doctors and members of the co-pilot's family whom he believed had knowledge of the situation. Assessing their legal prospects, Radner noted that he viewed the chances of a favourable ruling at approximately one percent.

Legal hurdles and prior proceedings

The Braunschweig court indicated early in the proceedings that the lawsuit faces a low likelihood of success. The presiding judge stated that the state is generally not liable if victims can obtain compensation through alternative channels, pointing out that claims are more properly directed against the airline. Germanwings ceased operations several years ago, meaning any such claims would involve its former parent company, Lufthansa. Lawyers representing the Federal Aviation Office requested that the court dismiss the lawsuit entirely. Prior legal actions launched by relatives in the United States, including a lawsuit in Virginia against Germanwings and Lufthansa and another against a Lufthansa flight school in Arizona, were previously dismissed. The Braunschweig court will evaluate the arguments before its October announcement.