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Air Canada pilots are not demanding costly security upgrades for existing cockpit doors to avert hijacking and terrorist attacks, their union said.

Luc Grignon, president of the Air Canada Pilots Association, was cited in a Journal de Montreal article as recommending that Air Canada install a double-door flight deck system on its aircraft.

Grignon's comments represented his personal opinions, and not union demands, said Serge Beaulieu, national spokesman for the pilots association.

«Yes, the best system might be the double doors,» Beaulieu said Sunday. «But we are quite happy with the (single) armoured, locked door that we now have.»

There have been no security breaches since the reinforced, bullet-proof doors were installed after the 9/11 terrorists attacks, Beaulieu said.

Pilots or cabin staff who need to open the doors, however briefly, follow a strict security protocol, he said. «The door is never opened, unless strictly necessary.»

Following the hijacking of a Turkish Airlines flight last October, the Air Canada pilots union reminded its 3,200 members to observe cockpit-safety protocols, Beaulieu said.

He declined to give details, for security reasons.

The union would prefer that aircraft manufacturers install double-door security systems in the future, as a matter of course, to protect flight decks, Beaulieu said.

Israeli airline El-Al is the only airline that now uses a system of double doors to prevent passengers from accessing the cockpit, Beaulieu said. «They have been doing it for a couple of years, and for obvious reasons.»

But the union is not asking Air Canada to go to the expense of retrofitting its planes with double doors, he added.

«Air Canada is a good partner in security, and would do what it had to do if safety conditions changed,» Beaulieu said.

Airlines have to strike a reasonable balance between cost and anti-terrorism measures, he added.

«At the end of the day, a perfectly safe airline is one that doesn't fly.»

(Montreal Gazette)