carriers. in this case, this plane was 24 years old. and 33 euros i think is the starting fare. you can see why there are people from all walks of life. some might not have been able to fly if it hadn t been for that. what do their track records look like? for the european carriers the discount carriers they ve got strong safety record they re really on par with the industry as a whole. germanwings specifically has a very good reputation. it was launched by lufthansa in 2002 to compete with ryanair and easey easyjet. and lufthansa has one of the best safety records in the world. the plane that crashed yesterday, the airbus a320 is also one of the safest in the world. as you said earlier, these airlines really give access to a lot of people to just be able to go places they wouldn t ordinarily be able to go. richard quest was reporting yesterday that lufthansa in particular has a maintenance division that is you know bar none, among the best in the world.