Southwest Airlines passengers will soon begin seeing a new security device on the carrier’s newest Boeing 737s. The airline announced Friday that its first plane with secondary cockpit barriers had gone into service, and Southwest expects to have 26 aircraft fitted with the device in service by the end of the year.
“This requirement actually goes all the way back to Sept. 11. Following that event, it was always looking for a path to make the flight deck more secure,” Southwest Executive Vice President of Operations Justin Jones told USA TODAY. “It’s just another layer of protection there to make sure no passengers who aren’t supposed to be in the flight deck ever get into the flight deck.”
A stowed secondary cockpit barrier on a Southwest Airlines 737.
The device is a fold-away door on the cabin side of the forward galley. According to Jones, flight attendants will deploy it when a pilot exits the cockpit to use the lavatory or for any other reason. The barrier will be opened again once the cockpit door is closed, meaning it will only be deployed for seconds at a time on any given flight.
Credit: usatoday
