EU will no longer recommend mask requirement for air travel

COLOGNE • The European Union will no longer recommend member states require face masks on planes and in airports, two EU agencies announced, ending a guideline that had been in place for nearly two years, as countries across the bloc lift Covid-19 curbs.

"For passengers and aircrews, this is a big step forward in the normalisation of air travel," Mr Patrick Ky, executive director of the EU Aviation Safety Agency, said in a joint statement with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The statement said the decision was the result of the current levels of vaccination and naturally acquired immunity across the bloc, which have also prompted the lifting of restrictions in a growing number of European countries.

The revised recommendations will come into effect on Monday, but rules on mask wearing might still vary depending on the airlines, the statement said, adding that carriers should require masks on flights to and from destinations where masks remain mandatory on public transport.

Italy, and Germany still do so; France announced it would lift the requirement starting on Monday.

In other cases, the new EU guidelines said airlines should still encourage passengers to wear masks but "respect others' decision to wear or to not wear a mask". Mr Ky said passengers coughing or sneezing "should strongly consider wearing a face mask, for the reassurance of those seated nearby" and the vulnerable should continue to wear masks.

The announcement relaxes guidance EU agencies issued in May 2020, when they recommended masks be required in airports and on aircraft to allow air travel to continue during the pandemic.

Ms Janet Northcote, spokesman for the aviation safety agency, said in an e-mail that agencies do not have the remit to mandate masks, only to make recommendations. Over the past two years, she added, some member states left it to aircraft and airports to decide, with implementation uneven as a result.

The Dutch airline KLM shifted on March 23 from requiring masks on flights to the Netherlands to "strongly recommending" them, spokesman Ilse Heemskerk said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday that the number of people who have died from Covid-19 in Europe has passed two million.

The WHO's European region comprises 53 countries and regions, including several in central Asia.

The United States, the world's worst affected country, has lost more than one million people.

NYTIMES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE