German national newspaper, Bild, today published an interview with Andreas Lubitz’s former girlfriend and a flight attendant. Andreas murdered 150 passengers and crew on a Germanwings flight from Barcelopna to Duesseldorf on Tuesday this week.
The aviation industry, the global travel and tourism world, and political leaders are shocked about what happened to Lufthansa and Germanwings this week, an airline usually considered safe and reliable. Had recent labor disputes at Lufthansa, unequal treatment between staff at Lufthansa and Germanwings and within the same company together with an unknown mental illness caused this pilot to commit mass murder?
Bild reporter, John Puthenpurackal, claimed to have checked her identity and had her show him a photo with the pilot and her. Bill changed her name for the article.
She told Bild she had met Andreas on a flight they had worked together. She was a flight attendant. They exchanged phone numbers and started dating.
She indicated Andreas was an outgoing nice human being, but privately he appeared very soft. He was a person who had a need to be loved.
Andras was a good person. He had bought her flowers, and often they talked about their work. He complained about work conditions, not enough money, fear, and a lot of pressure.
He may have referred to Lufthansa’s unequal treatment of Germanwings staff. Not only passengers felt the changes when Lufthansa told Germanwings to take over most European flight routes and cut service and benefits for passengers. More important it resulted in different treatment of pilots and other crew, making workers for Germanwings second-class within the company.
After the crash, Maria(her real name was changed) told Bild she clearly remembered a sentence Andreas had told her. This may have been a clear indication of what now happened. Andreas told her: “One day I will do something, what will change the entire broken system (at Lufthansa and Germanwings). Everyone will know my name and remember me.”
Maria continued to explain why she broke up with Andreas.
She realized Andreas had mental issues. He became very moody and often started yelling at her. She said: “I was scared of him. One time he actually locked me into the bathroom. At night he woke up and yelled, ‘We’re crashing.'”
It appeared he had nightmares. He was able to hide this situation from others, but for me it was obvious he had a problem.
Maria told Bild, Andreas did not talk about his illness, but he said, he was undergoing psychiatric treatment.
Maria thinks he did what he did, because Andreas realized he had mental issues and his dream to become a captain for Lufthansa, and a pilot on long-haul flights, became impossible.
If the break-up with her played a roll, she did not know. He actually started another relationship with a teacher from Krefeld, and lived with her in his apartment in Duesseldorf.
In the meantime, a spokesperson for the Duesseldorf prosecutor’s office said:
“The fact there are sick notes saying he was unable to work, among other things, that were found torn up, which were recent and even from the day of the crime, support the assumption based on the preliminary examination that the deceased hid his illness from his employer and his professional colleagues.”
