Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) is calling for the obligation to wear masks on public transport to end soon. After the European aviation authorities EASA and ECDC changed their recommendations for wearing a mask on board aircraft on Wednesday, there was now “an urgent need for adjustment in Germany,” said Wissing in a press release from his ministry: “We should take a uniform approach across Europe and lift the mask requirement , especially in air travel.”
The EU authorities had previously recommended an end to the mask requirement from May 16, in line with changed requirements for public transport across Europe and the “recent developments in the pandemic”. However, this recommendation cannot be implemented throughout the EU, but only by changing the national regulations, as Wissing is now demanding. The transport minister is thus supporting the opinion of the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL), which declared on Wednesday that the federal government “from the point of view of the industry” should now lift the mask requirement. Due to the ventilation systems in aircraft, the risk of infection is lower than in most living and working areas anyway.
In order to implement Wissing’s demand, however, a change in the Infection Protection Act would be needed in Germany. “The mask requirement on airplanes is in line with German legislation,” said the SZ from the Ministry of Health. Accordingly, the provision in the Infection Protection Act states that the mask may only be removed on buses and trains as well as on airplanes to eat or drink – a regulation that currently applies at least until September 23, when the law expires.
Look at other EU countries
In fact, the EU aviation authorities only recommend changing the mask requirement on airplanes if there is no longer a requirement to wear a mask on public transport in the respective country. This is now the case in Italy and several EU countries, for example. France also announced that from next week it would only recommend wearing a mask in public transport.
If Wissing has its way, Germany should follow these examples and say goodbye to the mask requirement on all public transport. “I see the same need for adjustment for the mask requirement on buses and trains,” he explained.