European Union Drops Airline Mask Rules, But…

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: September 5, 2022
Published: May 16, 2022

71 comments

As of today, the European Union’s recommendations have changed around the wearing of face masks on planes. However, the implications are limited.

In this post:

European Union drops air travel mask guidance

As we first learned last week, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have issued an update when it comes to the wearing of face masks on flights. As of today (Monday, May 16, 2022), the European Union has dropped its recommendation for airlines to require passengers to wear face masks.

It’s worth noting that the European Union only makes recommendations, and countries are still allowed to make their own rules. However, very broadly the European Union recommendations are often followed. As it’s described, this decision is based on the high levels of vaccination and natural immunity in Europe, accompanied by the growing number of European countries lifting restrictions.

It’s acknowledged that masks will still likely be required to some destinations, including those where they’re required for public transport. Furthermore, it’s stated that masks still provide some of the best protection against the transmission of COVID-19, and those who are vulnerable or concerned should continue to wear masks that offer a high level of protection.

As the Executive Director of the EASA, Patrick Ky, describes this development:

“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. For passengers and air crews, this is a big step forward in the normalisation of air travel. Passengers should however behave responsibly and respect the choices of others around them. And a passenger who is coughing and sneezing should strongly consider wearing a face mask, for the reassurance of those seated nearby.”

This update comes just weeks after the federal transportation mask mandate ended in the United States due to the ruling of a Florida judge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked the Department of Justice to challenge this ruling, so we’ll see what comes of this.

The European Union has dropped its mask recommendation for air travel

Are countries following the EU’s recommendations?

As mentioned above, the European Union is only changing its recommendations, and it’s up to individual countries to then decide on their own rules. Prior to this update, the state of things was pretty complicated:

We saw some countries in the European Union already lift face mask requirements for public transportation, and in turn, we saw several European Union airlines lift face mask requirements
We saw some European Union countries not lift face mask requirements for airlines, but nonetheless airlines decided to no longer enforce the rules
Whether or not a mask is required is based on a combination of the airline policy, as well as the policies of the countries you’re traveling to & from, and those policies may differ whether you’re on the plane or at the airport

It’s now May 16, so this new recommendation is in place. What does that mean for the state of masking on planes in Europe? According to BBC, of the 27 European Union countries, the following are continuing to require that passengers wear masks:

Austria
Cyprus
Estonia
Germany
Greece
Italy
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain

As you can see, that’s nearly half of the European Union countries. Those that aren’t requiring masks overwhelmingly also didn’t require them prior to this change.

Of course I imagine this will evolve significantly over time. And as mentioned above, the situation in the Netherlands is confusing, since technically the country requires masking on planes, but KLM isn’t choosing to enforce that policy.

Germany requires masks on planes, but not at airports

Bottom line

The European Union has changed its recommendations around the wearing of face masks on planes. As of today (May 16), it’s no longer recommended that countries and airlines require air travelers to wear masks.

However, it’s up to individual countries and airlines to decide on their own policies, and it doesn’t look like we’re seeing many countries change their stances initially.

Are you surprised to see many countries not following the EU’s guidance?

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BigTee New Member

April 5, 2023, 9:55 am

Funny. I'm agnostic on the mask thing. When I flew QR to KTM 2022, QR required me to wear a mask on QR and at DOH. Of course, KTM city, like many Asian cities, has such dirty and polluted streets (from rough roads and motorbikes) that everyone wears masks in the street, the same as before Covid. So much for a mask-free holiday! Anyone who has flown to Asia on business knows what I'm talking about. I mean, I transited through Europe all through covid lockdowns. AF was so funny, telling me that my N95 did not comply and that I had to replace it with the ubiquitous flimsy blue and white mask, of which they had an ample complimentary supply.

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Darren C Diamond

May 17, 2022, 12:05 am

@3 million commercial passengers fly every day in and out of US airports. Covid Chicken Littles threatened millions of deaths would come because brave Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle dropped the stupid mask mandate. Many European governments led the way in dropping the mask mandate, and that motivated me to buy one trip to Europe for June and another for July. Months ago, the US dropped the testing requirement for the millions of people who legally enter the US by land or ferry, and has never required the millions of illegal aliens provide test results when entering. The US should stop the corrupt, useless, and selectively enforced testing requirement that only airline passengers provide fake negative Covid results. Airline travel, before, during, and after Covid, is safer than any other form of travel and the Zombie Apocalypse prophesied by mask addicts has been shown to be ridiculous.

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Samo Guest

May 16, 2022, 8:07 pm

The list is wrong. It comes from Ryanair's press release where they mention which countries require masks on public transportation (and Ryanair CHOSE to require masks on those flights). However, not all of these countries actually require masks on foreign planes. For example, SAS, Finnair and Norwegian don't require masks on flights to many of these destinations (SAS serves quite a few of them, but only requires masks on Italian flights). And even then, the list is still wrong since Estonia dropped their mask mandate long time ago (I've been there lately and masks were pretty much nonexistent).

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Steve Guest

May 16, 2022, 6:56 pm

Just visited Spain - liberal guy who liens to think of others and I’ll probably get flack for this. When I visited a clinic for testing back to the states, the physician and I casually talked. He said that Spain in now approaching this as if everyone is vaccinated (the majority of their citizens have been). Yes, people will get sick but they they should relatively protected by the vaccine for serous harm. They feel the need to move forward and see this more as an endemic. I’m not a doctor and cannot vouch for this but at some point we do need move forward. When will the risk ever be negligible enough to not mask to protect others (Not asking, just curious). Also, Spainish citizens seem to be generally healthy with less issues than found in the US due to cultural norms. Ie less sugars, less preservatives, more waking / movement ps,.. I only indicated the liberal part as people have seem to have made the masking issue a political issue. Call me a Democratic a*hole I guess who no longer wears a mask in public.

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DRennman Guest

May 16, 2022, 6:16 pm

Confusing mis-mash of rules and enforcements. For our last trip on Air France, yes, masks were required on the flight but not in CDG or Orly. Required on the flight when flying into Spain but not in the Palma or Barcelona airports.

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