An Airbus plane operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline has crashed in southern France en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, police and aviation officials say.

French president Francois Hollande said he believed none of the 148 people on board flight 4U9525 had survived.‎
"There were 148 people on board," Mr Hollande said. "The conditions of the accident, which have not yet been clarified, lead us to think there are no survivors."
He said there was likely to be a significant number of German victims.
He added: "The accident happened in a zone that is particularly hard to access."

French prime minister Manuel Valls told reporters the cause of the crash, near a ski resort in the French Alps, was unknown.

A spokesman for the DGAC aviation authority said the airplane crashed near the town of Barcelonnette, about 100 kilometres north of the French Riviera city of Nice.

The local La Provence newspaper said the Airbus A320 was carrying 142 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew, citing aviation officials.

The plane had taken off from Barcelona airport at 08:55 (local time), a spokeswoman for Spain's airport operator Aena said.

The plane issued a distress call at 10:47am (local time), sources said.

Spain's deputy prime minister said 45 passengers on board the plane were believed to be Spanish.

Investigators head to accident site
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who said debris from the plane had already been found, was heading to the scene with Mr Valls and French accident investigators.

France 24 journalist John Maguire told the ABC he expected recovery efforts would be challenging.
"It is going to be extremely difficult because it's the Alps, the villages are in small valleys and the plane looks as if it's come down against the mountains," he said.
"We're just learning helicopters have found more wreckage and ... they're confirming what the president of France has said, it is unlikely there are any survivors."

Lufthansa's Germanwings unit said it was as yet unable to verify reports of the crash.
"We have recently become aware of media reports speculating on an incident though we still do not have any confirmed information," it said in a statement.
"As soon as definite information is available, we shall inform the media immediately."

Lufthansa on its official Twitter account said: "We do not yet know what has happened to flight 4U 9525. My deepest sympathy goes to the families and friends of our passengers and crew on 4U 9525."
"If our fears are confirmed, this is a dark day for Lufthansa. We hope to find survivors."

An Airbus spokeswoman said the company was trying to assess the situation after the crash reports.
"We are aware of the media reports," Airbus said on Twitter.
"All efforts are now going towards assessing the situation. We will provide further information as soon as available."

The crashed A320 is 24 years old and has been with the parent Lufthansa group since 1991, according to online database airfleets.net.

In July 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed shortly after take-off from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport en route for New York, leaving 113 people, mainly Germans, dead and eventually leading to the supersonic airliner being taken out of service.

France's leading air traffic controller union SNCTA called off a strike planned from Wednesday to Friday after news of the crash.
"We are suspending our planned strike as a result of the emotions created in the control rooms by the crash, particularly in Aix-en-Provence," union spokesman Roger Rousseau said.
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