The European Union has dropped their mask mandates for passengers on flights and in airports, in a further global relaxing of pandemic restrictions.
In a statement, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) announced that from Monday, they would no longer be recommending mask mandates on airplanes or in airports in the 27 member countries.
The mask mandates were removed by the European Union agencies due to not only the “levels of vaccination” on the continent, but also the levels of “naturally acquired immunity” to COVID-19.
“For passengers and air crews, this is a big step forward in the normalisation of air travel,” said EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky. “Passengers should however behave responsibly and respect the choices of others around them,” he added, “and a passenger who is coughing and sneezing should strongly consider wearing a face mask, for the reassurance of those seated nearby.”
ECDC Director Andrea Ammon also cautioned that while the mask mandates were lifting, it was still “important to be mindful that together with physical distancing and good hand hygiene,” wearing a facemask is “one of the best methods of reducing transmission.”
Airlines have also been recommended to be “pragmatic” when it comes to physical distancing limits set in airports, saying they should “avoid imposing distancing requirements if these will very likely lead to a bottleneck in another location in the passenger journey.”
The recommendations follows moves from many countries across the West and the European Union to reduce or completely remove their mask mandates or other requirements, such as passenger locator forms. However, the organisations noted that airlines should “keep their data collection systems on standby” in case a new “variant of concern” emerges.
Individual airlines can still choose to implement mask mandates if they wish, although most major airlines are not doing so, apart from in cases where their destination country still requires it.
The United Kingdom was one of the first countries to remove mask mandates on public transport, with major airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic announcing in early to mid March they would be dropping theirs.
The Biden administration seemed likely to continue to push for mask mandates up until this month, but the federal mandate was struck down at the end of April, after a judge ruled that the CDC had failed to justify the extension.
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, continue to enforce mask mandates on flights and airports; the three countries had instituted some of the most stringent restrictions in the West during the pandemic.
