Will we be able to fly this summer without having to wear a mask?
It looks like it.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announced on Wednesday that they are easing health restrictions in the air.
Although wearing a mask “remains one of the best protections against the transmission of Covid-19”, the agencies announce the lifting of the obligation to wear it.
This change in the rules "takes into account the latest developments in the pandemic, in particular the levels of vaccination and naturally acquired immunity, and the accompanying lifting of restrictions in a growing number of European countries", write the ECDC and EASA in a press release.
“Passengers should, however, behave responsibly and respect the choices of others around them.
And a passenger who coughs and sneezes should strongly consider wearing a mask, to reassure people seated nearby, ”says Patrick Ky, the director of the EASA.
"From next week (
Editor's note: these new recommendations will come into force on May 16
), masks will no longer need to be compulsory", specifies Patrick Ky, the director of the EASA.
However, in France at least, this is only theoretical.
Each country remains in control of the rules that apply to it.
In "flights to or from a destination where wearing a mask is always required on public transport", it would also be required on the plane, specify the ECDC and the EASA.
Emmanuel Macron had mentioned it
Some companies in some countries had not waited for the European authorities: in Belgium, for example, Brussels Airlines already dropped it in early May.
Jet2, EasyJet, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, TUI Airways or even SWISS also authorize not to wear a mask on planes, except when national regulations require it.
In France, the easing of health restrictions does not yet concern public transport: wearing a mask remains compulsory there, both in daily transport and in long-distance transport.
"I think it's reasonable" to end this obligation this summer, Emmanuel Macron said in an interview in early April.
And the President of the Republic to note: “We left him in public transport because the epidemic continues to rise.
There we have passed the peak, so it is going down.
If the decline is confirmed, at some point, we will lift it.
»
