Vietnam's aviation authority will intensify supervision of pilots and require at least two people to be in the cockpit at all times on local flights after revelations about the final minutes of the Germanwings Airbus that crashed in the French Alps on March 24.

Lai Xuan Thanh, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) told DTiNews a new instruction on intensifying aviation security in Vietnam will be implemented from today (March 27).

“Firstly we will asked all airlines operating in Vietnam to start strict supervision of their pilots," Thanh said. "Then we will look through all legal documents relating to aviation security to add neccessary terms to deal with some more rising situations, including the one that has occured to the Germanwings flight on March 24."

Thanh said that while local airlines are not required to send reports on daily work of their pilots to the CAAV, they have to send a pilot's full resume and carry out their own security measures.

He said the CAAV will require at least two people be in the cockpit at all times on all local flights.

“It will be difficult if we require a third pilot on each flight due to problems relating to finance and staff. So we are thinking about letting the chief flight attendant take the job during such a situation," he said.

A representative from Vietnam Airlines said regulations relating to the number of people in the cockpit have been defined in its Flight Operation Manual, which has been approved by the CAAV.

“On all Vietnam Airlines flights, an attendant must be called in when one person wants to leave the cockpit for any reason, and he/she has to stay there until that person returns," the representative said.

VOV