PARIS, March 24 -- The European aircraft manufacturer giant, Airbus, said on Tuesday it was sending experts to the French Alps where an A320 plane operated by German low-cost airline Germanwings crashed.

"An airbus go-team of technical advisors will be dispatched to provide full assistance to French BEA in charge of the investigation," Airbus said.

In operation since 1991, the plane that crashed had accumulated approximately 58,300 flight hours during some 46,700 flights, it added in a comunique, pledging to make "further factual information available as soon as the details have been confirmed and cleared by the authorities for release."

Airbus also sent condolences to the victims' families.

At about 11:00 a.m. local time (1000GMT), the A320 crashed near Dignes-Les-Bains in southern France while en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf with 150 passengers on board.