SOUTHAMPTON Airport’s biggest airline says it already has policies in place to make sure its pilots are never alone in the cockpit during a flight.

Flybe, which operates flights to dozens of destinations across Europe, has said it already operates a policy ensuring that two crew members are in the cockpit during flights.

It comes after co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed a Germanwings flight in the French Alps on Tuesday, killing all 150 people on board.

The 28-year old had locked the captain of the Airbus 320 plane out of the cockpit moments before he started a descent.

Crash investigators recovered the plane’s black box and could hear the sounds of the pilot desperately banging on the door as he tried to get back in while Lubitz sat at the controls in silence.

It was only in the last few moments that passengers realised what was happening, with their screams heard on the recording.

Daily Echo: The site of this week's Germanwings crash.

Now airlines are coming under scrutiny over their surrounding psychiatric tests on pilots and on policies for safety in the cockpit.

A spokesman from Flybe said: “In line with Civil Aviation Authority guidelines, all Flybe pilots undergo extensive and regular medical assessments to determine their fitness to hold a licence.

“As part of this, aeromedical examiners are required to assess a commercial pilot’s mental health at each medical examination which, for an airline pilot flying with at least one other pilot, is undertaken annually.”

Today airlines are putting policies in place to make sure that there are always two crew members in the cockpit during flights.

Flybe, Southampton airport’s biggest airline, said these policies are already in place.A spokesman for the airline said they were informing their staff to make sure this practice was enforced.