easyJet to drop face masks from Sunday – in the few destinations where it can

easyJet has joined Jet2, Tui, Virgin Atlantic and (in theory, if not in practice) British Airways in dropping the requirement to wear a face mask when travelling.

The rule change will come into effect from Sunday 27th March, which is the first day of the Summer flying season.

Don’t get too excited though. easyJet’s lawyers have been combing through the rules and believe that only four international destinations (three if you exclude Gibraltar) actually allow masks to be removed during travel.

In a statement this morning, easyJet said:

“easyJet is really pleased [sic] to see the start of a return to truly restriction-free flying for UK consumers, following the welcome removal of all remaining UK travel restrictions last week.  

Following the removal of mandatory mask wearing in a number of countries, we have reviewed our mask policy onboard and have taken the decision that, from 27 March 2022, on flights where masks are no longer legally required at both ends of the route, we will not mandate customers and crew to wear masks onboard the flight. Any customers or crew who wish to continue wearing a mask will of course have their personal choice respected.

This means that on UK domestic flights including Jersey, excluding routes to and from Scotland, plus flights between the UK and Denmark, Gibraltar, Iceland and Hungary, customers and crew will no longer be required to wear masks. We aim to progressively remove the requirement on other international routes as and when both ends of the route has no legal requirement.

As a pan European airline operating between over 30 countries, we must continue to ensure that we and our customers follow the legal requirements of all the countries we fly to. This means when flying to or from countries where mask requirements remain in place, we will follow the relevant legal requirements. We urge European governments to have a coordinated approach on the removal of the requirement where possible, to make it easy and clear for customers. We will aim to provide clear information to customers, including while onboard, detailing the specific mask requirements on their flight.”

Jet2 was the first UK airline to remove the need to wear face masks. Tui quickly followed with Virgin Atlantic joining last week, albeit only for Caribbean flights for now. British Airways also announced the end of mask wearing, before pulling back.

You can see the official easyJet statement on its website here.