Pilots, executives at Lufthansa join employees in remembering victims of flight 9525

Executives, pilots and employees of German airline Lufthansa have held a moment of silence at company headquarters for the 150 people who died aboard Germanwings Flight 9525.

The Airbus A320 flown by Lufthansa's low-cost division crashed Tuesday in the Alps in France.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, himself a pilot, observed the ceremony Wednesday at the company's main base. He said it was "a very emotional moment, to stand there with so many colleagues in uniform."

He said the company's first priority was helping the relatives of those who died.

He said it was "inexplicable for us, how an airplane in good mechanical condition, with two experienced, Lufthansa-trained pilots, could encounter such a tragedy from cruising altitude."

One of the plane's black boxes has been recovered and French authorities are investigating.