Australia will remove its mask requirement on airline flights in early September. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese discussed the removal of this requirement during a National Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, August 31st. Isolation periods for those who test positive for COVID-19 will be reduced from seven days to five. This means that the last pandemic travel restriction will be removed in one of the countries that had the strictest regulations.
Several airlines previously dropped the mask requirement on international flights departing Australia. The requirement was also dropped inside Australian airports. The conflicting requirements consistently confused passengers. The national government hopes this will clarify travel restrictions and promote Australian air travel.
Revoked regulation
The Australian government has announced that it will remove its mask requirement on flights. Beginning September 9th, no passengers will be legally required to wear a mask for any part of their flight experience in Australia. On Wednesday, August 31st, the Australian National Cabinet met with Prime Minister Albanese, who confirmed that the mask mandate would be dropped. The cabinet also decided that quarantine periods would be reduced to five days compared to the previous seven.
Mask requirements will be dropped in Australia in just over a week. Photo: Qantas
COVID-19 has been labeled a low-risk threat to public health in Australia. This, coupled with the previous removal of the airport mask mandate, led to the requirements’ removal. The Australian government anticipates that this will help clarify regulations. In June, the government dropped the requirement for passengers to wear masks in its airports. This confused many travelers as they were required to wear a facial covering once they boarded their flight.
Eager airlines
The mask regulations onboard aircraft only apply to domestic flights and flights coming to Australia. Many airlines do not require passengers to wear masks if they are departing Australia for a country that has no mask mandate. Qantas has expressed that it would remove its mask mandate as soon as possible. The CEO, Alan Joyce, has reassured the public that while the airline is looking to disband mask requirements, it respects that many passengers will want to continue wearing masks. The airline supports the government’s decision to drop the mandate as Joyce had previously stated that the existing requirement made little to no sense when the threat level was considered minimal.
Qantas has stated that it will drop its mask requirement as soon as possible. Photo: Qantas
Surprising change
The announcement that the final pandemic travel restriction will be dropped came as a shock. Australia has had some of the world’s strictest travel restrictions throughout the pandemic. After the nation’s lockdowns, it enforced long quarantine periods for all travelers regardless of where they had come from or if they were Australian citizens. The removal of the mandate in Airports was an even more significant shock as it was one of the earliest travel restrictions dropped by the country.
A week ago, Singapore, another country that strictly enforced travel restrictions, dropped its mandate in airports and on airplanes. Not all countries are repealing the restrictions. Germany has announced that it will extend its mask requirement on all flights through April 2023.
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Source: Paddle Your Own Kanoo