“From next week, face masks will no longer need to be mandatory in air travel in all cases, broadly aligning with the changing requirements of national authorities across Europe for public transport,” said Patrick Ky, executive director of the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
ECDC Director Andrea Ammon said cabin crews should remain cautious and inform passengers of any required measures in a timely manner, as rules can still vary in departure and destination locations.
“The importance of these measures should continue to be effectively communicated to passengers for their safety, and ECDC will continue to work with our colleagues at EASA to regularly assess and amend the recommendations as necessary,” Ammon said.
The mask mandate on planes and at airports in the EU has been in place for about two years and has led to conflicts between passengers and airlines across the continent.
Ky said travelers should respect the choices of others around them and behave responsibly, saying that if a passenger is “coughing and sneezing,” that person “should strongly consider wearing a face mask for the reassurance of those seated nearby.”
“While mandatory mask-wearing in all situations is no longer recommended, it is important to be mindful that together with physical distancing and good hand hygiene, it is one of the best methods of reducing transmission,” Ammon said, noting that aircrew should avoid imposing distancing requirements on passengers because they “will very likely lead to a bottleneck ... especially if they are not required at national or regional level in other similar settings.”
The change comes about a month after a Florida judge struck down a similar mandate in the United States, saying that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask rule exceeded the agency’s statutory authority because its implementation violated administrative law.
