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New cockpit rules: European carriers weigh changes after Lubitz revelation

Norwegian Air Shuttle and Easyjet announce they're changing the rules of flight to prevent a repeat of Tuesday's Germanwings crash.

A picture inside a flight simulator shows the door locking system of an Airbus A320 (REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger)
A picture inside a flight simulator shows the door locking system of an Airbus A320 (REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger)

Two of Europe's biggest budget airlines have announced plans to roll out new cockpit rules in response to the crash of Germanwings 4U 9524.

French prosecution revealed this morning how the co-pilot on the doomed Germanwings flight, Andreas Lubitz, had deliberately locked the pilot out of the cockpit and put the plane into a fatal descent.

Both Easyjet and Norwegian Air Shuttle say they will adopt new rules requiring two crew members to be present in the cockpit of a flying aircraft at all times.

Norwegian Air Shuttle spokeswoman Charlotte Holmbergh-Jacobsson said the new rules would be adopted "as soon as possible" on all commercial flights globally. The policy is already in effect in the U.S., but is not compulsory on European flights.

Ms Holmbergh-Jacobsson said the airline's security department had been thinking about the measure "for a while, and today decided on it".

Other airlines, including Finnish national carrier Finnair, stipulate that there must always be two crew members in the cockpit of a flying aircraft.

Cockpit doors on all commercial flights were given a security upgrade after 9/11. On an Airbus, the cockpit door is operated by a switch at the pilots' seats (pictured above) that has three modes: "Unlock" allows a pilot to open the door for someone trying to get in; "Normal", the default mode, allows crew to enter by punching in a key code; "Lock" prevents anyone from entering the cockpit – even if they have the override code.

The crash of a Germanwings A320 in the French Alps onTuesday killed all 150 people onboard, including two infants and 16 teenagers who were on a school trip.