Budget flight and package holidays operator Jet2, which flew 3 million passengers in 2020, has become the first UK airline to ditch compulsory face masks on their planes – at least in England and Northern Ireland.
According to its website, Jet2’s policy on face masks in flight for England and Northern Ireland as of today is:
“It’s no longer a legal requirement to wear a face mask at our airports or onboard our planes. However, as per UK Government guidance, we recommend that you continue to wear a face mask in these spaces, and you will need to wear one when you get to your overseas destination.”
Previously, Jet2’s policy throughout the UK had been that “Face masks must be worn by everyone aged six years and over at all our airports and onboard all our flights, even if you’re fully vaccinated.”
Scottish customers have longer to wait unfortunately: “It’s still a legal requirement for everyone aged six years and over to wear a face mask at our Scottish airports and onboard our planes travelling to and from those airports. This is the case even if you’re fully vaccinated.”
It is welcome news that Jet2 has changed its policy. Forcing plane passengers – who are in any case packed like sardines into a metal box together for hours on end – to wear a piece of cloth over their faces never made any logical sense, except perhaps as reassurance to the nervous. Even this was misguided as we know that psychological ‘coping mechanisms’ such as masks will prolong fear, rather than let it drain away.
For many deaf or hard of hearing, abuse victims, PTSD sufferers, the autistic and more, mask mandates and ‘masked society’ present real problems. Hundreds of thousands of people who would otherwise not have bothered flying masked will now be looking for flights and holidays with Jet2.
Other airlines must now do the right thing by ditching their mask requirements too.
