Citizens who plan to travel to European countries by plane will no longer be required to wear a face mask in airports and during flights in Europe, starting from May 26, after such a requirement will officially be lifted on May 16.
Such a decision has been confirmed through a statement published by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) as well as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“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,” EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky has said.
EASA’s director has considered the recent decision as a big step forward in the normalisation of air travel for passengers as well as aircrew. However, he stressed that passengers should behave responsibly and also respect the choices of other persons around them.
Ky has emphasised that a passenger who is coughing and sneezing should wear a mask for the reassurance of those seated nearby.
In this regard, ECDC’s Director Andrea Ammon has said that the development and continuous updates of the Aviation Health Safety Protocol, in light of the COVID-19 situation, have provided better knowledge of the risk of transmission of the virus and its new strains.
“While risks do remain, we have seen that non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccines have allowed our lives to begin to return to normal,” he pointed out in this regard.
Many European countries have lifted the majority of the restrictions imposed due to the spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants in order to further facilitate the travel process and help the travel and tourism sector, among others, recover from the damages caused by the entry bans and other preventive measures.
Up to this point, several European airlines have abolished the requirement to wear a face mask.
SchengenVisaInfo.com previously reported that the following airlines had abolished the mandatory face mask requirement: EasyJet, Jet2, Norwegian, and British Airways.
The latter has announced through a statement that citizens would be permitted to travel without being required to keep on a face mask.
“For destinations where we have established that the wearing of a face covering is not mandated, you are able to make a personal choice, and we kindly request everyone respects each other’s preferences,” the airline announced.
Recently, a number of US airlines also announced that they decided to abolish the mandatory face mask requirement.
