Strategic Meetings Summit London, 26 September,

Friday 30 September 2022, JW Marriott Grosvenor

Airlines in Germany have hit back at a proposal by the Federal Parliament to reinstate a mask-wearing mandate on board planes for the upcoming winter season, starting from October.

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The Board of Airline Representatives in Germany (BARIG), which represents more than 100 national and international airlines, said the decision to make FFP2 masks compulsory on flights that are either taking off or landing in Germany was “unreasonable” and out of step with current international standards. 

In a statement on Thursday, BARIG secretary general Michael Hoppe said: “There is no epidemiological basis for such a step… We appeal to the German Federal Parliament and Federal Council to revise the legislative proposal.”

Mask-wearing is no longer compulsory at German airports and in May the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a recommendation to dispense with the mandatory wearing of masks on aircraft.

Hoppe said the country’s air traffic would be “put at a considerable disadvantage in international competition by such an unjustifiably strict regulation.”

German air carrier Lufthansa has also vehemently opposed the plan and called for improvements in the further legislative process. 

Speaking to BTN Europe, a spokesperson for the flag carrier said “different regulations are not comprehensible for passengers”. 

"This leads to conflicts on board, which are a strain on our crews. In many other areas of daily life in Germany, for example in the supermarket or in restaurants, the mask requirement has long been abolished,” the spokesperson said.

“It is difficult to justify that masks should continue to be worn in aircraft, of all places, where highly efficient filters constantly clean the cabin air.”

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