GUWonder

Crash axes in passenger cabins were banned on common carrier passenger flights in/to/from the US, at least after 9/11, on order of the US. This had put some European carriers in a pickle at least in late 2001 and 2002, as various regulators in Europe still required a crash axe in the passenger cabin on flights subject to their home country regulators even as the US had banned them.

The current national regulations regarding in-flight safety equipment mandates for the passenger cabin, which in some cases includes a crash axe, are public information in many a market. The safety equipment regulations applicable to this Germanwings flight are also public information.

I can't recall a single instance in the FT era where a crash axe in the passenger cabin of a common carrier has been useful for escape in the event of a crash. The crash axe in the cockpit has been useful, but even that has been primarily or exclusively for purposes other than escaping in the event of a crash. A crash axe won't work to bust through the kind of reinforced cockpit door of this Germanwings flight, at least not in the ten or so minutes between when both pilots were in the cockpit and when the plane crashed with one pilot locked out of the cockpit.