Ryanair has said that face masks will still be mandatory on flights to and from 15 EU countries despite the rule being dropped from next week.
The update to the health safety measures for air travel was issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) this morning.
However, a number of EU countries still require masks to be worn on public transport and Ryanair have said masks will remain mandatory on flights to and from those places.
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The affected EU countries are Austria, Cyprus, Czech, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson announced the airline's policy change and said he expects those countries will relax their face mask rules in the near future.
He said: "We welcome this rule relaxation from EASA and the ECDC effective from Monday, 16 May next. From that date, face masks will be optional on all Ryanair flights except those flights to/from the 15 EU States where masks remain mandatory on public transport.
"We expect these States to relax their face mask rules over the coming days in line with these new health guidelines from EASA and the ECDC. Intending passengers can check the latest EU face mask regulations on the Re-Open EU website .”
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