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Qantas no longer requires passengers to wear masks on some of its international flights and has moved to clarify the complicated rules currently governing their use onboard.
Key points:
- Masks have been scrapped on some flights to the US, UK and Italy
- They remain mandatory on all domestic flights
- The airline is pushing for uniform rules around the mask mandate
The airline last week flagged it would be updating its onboard mask policy for international flights to align with the rules at the destination.
It means masks are no longer required on board flights from New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland to the United Kingdom, United States and Rome.
However, as Australian rules require plane passengers to wear masks, they remain mandatory on inbound flights.
Masks also remain mandatory on all domestic Australian flights, but the mandate has been scrapped at West Australian airports.
The move was in line with other Australian states and territories after the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) recommended they be dropped in almost all indoor settings.
Qantas pushing for consistency amid 'confusion'
In a statement last week, Qantas said they were continuing to push for uniform rules.
"Given the different rules in different jurisdictions overseas as well as for domestic flights in Australia and now at airports, we appreciate some of our customers may find mask requirements confusing, particularly when they have connecting flights," the statement said.
"We're doing our best to help them prepare for their flights as well as continuing to talk to governments about the need for more consistent rules."
Chief executive Alan Joyce told Nine Radio there was a "good case" to remove masks from aircraft "to stop this confusion".
Mr Joyce said planes had "the safest environment of any transport in the world".
"You've got the HEPA filters on an aircraft that take out 99 per cent of all particles, including COVID-19," he said.
"You've got the air that circulates every six minutes, you've got everybody facing in a forward direction.
"Boeing have done a study that showed if you're sitting next to somebody that coughs, it's equivalent to be in seven-foot away from them on the ground."
Filtration systems effective, infectious diseases expert says
ANU infectious diseases expert Dr Sanjaya Senanayake said the risk of getting infections on planes was quite low due to the filtration systems, people facing the same way and the upright seat backs providing a limited barrier.
"When you look at outbreaks on planes in general, when it does happen it tends to be people in the immediate surroundings of someone who’s got an infection, so maybe in the first couple of rows in front and behind," Dr Senanayake said.
But he said there were still hospital admissions for COVID lung disease every day, and he urged anyone who was at high risk of getting severe COVID such as older people and people with low immune systems, to continue to wear masks — particularly N95 masks.
"It is worth remembering that just because mask mandates have been removed, health departments around the country aren't saying 'that’s it for masks', they're not saying that at all," Dr Senanayake said.
"They are still recommending that people should wear masks if they can’t safely physically distance."
Doctors back move
Australian Medical Association national president Omar Khorshid agreed that aeroplanes were low-risk.
"The air in aeroplanes changes over pretty quickly and goes through HEPA filters which remove 99.9 per cent of particles," Dr Khorshid said.
"The air is also very dry and cold, as we would all recognise on aeroplanes, and all those things go against the transmission of viruses.
"In fact perhaps the airports are higher-risk places."
Dr Khorshid said it would only be a matter of time before the mandate on other air travel in Australia was removed.
“The AMA is not opposed to the removal of mask mandates where those decisions are made on correct science and on public health grounds.
"We certainly welcome any steps Australia can take safely to get us back to a more normal life."
But he said those who felt vulnerable should keep masks on for an extra layer of protection.
Qantas will continue to offer masks to customers on flights who wish to wear them.
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