The German co-pilot who flew the ill-fated Germanwings plane that crashed into the side of a French mountain last week told Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, about his depression six years ago, the company revealed Tuesday.
In 2009, Andreas Lubitz sent the company's flight training school an email disclosing a previous bout of "severe depression" and his request to rejoin the training program after being absent for a month, The New York Times reported.
The revelation marks the first time Lufthansa spoke of the co-pilot's mental illness, which German and French officials uncovered during initial investigations into the March 24 crash in the French Alps that killed all 144 passengers, five crew members and Lubitz.
Lufthansa said it came across the email during a search of its records, but the company did not disclose when Lubitz was depressed, if he received any treatment or if the airline followed up with the co-pilot, The NY Times reported.
Another lingering question is why the 27-year-old co-pilot was allowed to finish training and fly passenger planes. Last week, Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said the company determined Lubitz to be "100 [percent] flightworthy."
The airline has since turned its findings over to German prosecutors as they investigate the crash and Lubitz, who is believed to have locked the pilot out of the cockpit in the minutes before he steered the Airbus into the mountains.
"Lufthansa will continue to provide the investigating authorities with its full and unlimited support," Lufthansa said Tuesday, "because we do not wish to anticipate the ongoing investigation by the Dusseldorf Public Prosecutor."
Lutibz's remains are the only set to be officially identified from Flight 9525, which took off from Barcelona headed for Dusseldorf in Germany, capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the newspaper reported.
Officials are working to identify the remains of the rest of the crew and passengers. Many were German nationals, including 16 high school students from the town of Haltern am See.
