UPDATE: Transport Canada announced Thursday afternoon that all Canadian commercial flights must now have two crew members in the cockpit at all times.
In response to the recent Germanwings plane crash that sent 150 passengers to their deaths, Air Canada will now implement a new policy that requires two crew members to be in the cock-pit at all times.
The policy update follows the news that the Germanwings crash was caused by the co-pilot, 28 year-old Andreas Lubitz, who deliberately locked himself inside the cock-pit and steered the plane into a mountain, killing everyone on board.
U.S. airlines have enforced this policy since 9/11. It mandates that at least two crew members must be present in the cock-pit at all times, meaning that when one pilot leaves, a flight attendant will take his place. This is meant to be used as an alert system if one pilot becomes impaired and unable to fly.
Canadian and European airlines have not previously held this policy, but numerous airlines are now implementing changes, including Air Transat, Norwegian Airlines, Aer Lingus, Ryanair, Easyjet, Air Canada and WestJet.
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