Passenger Health Safety - COVID-19

Yes, EASA believes that member states, national health authorities and air transport operators have put everything possible in place to make it safe to fly again. However an important contribution comes from the passengers themselves, who have a responsibility to themselves, other travellers and air personnel to follow the procedures put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  

It is not possible to guarantee 100% prevention of infection in this pandemic, but we have defined all possible and practical measures in the EASA/ECDC guidelines to make air travel safe again. 
 

Airlines and airport operators, individually or via their representative bodies, should provide health promotional materials in advance as well as on board the aircraft, explaining all the risk mitigation measures put in place, such as the wearing of face masks, hygiene measures, reduced service, air filtration, ventilation and exchange, to reassure passengers and increase their adherence to the implemented measures. 

Yes, the wearing of medical face masks is recommended for all passengers and persons within the airport and aircraft, from the moment they enter the terminal building at the departure airport until they exit the terminal building at the destination airport. 

A medical face mask. “Community” or “hand-made” masks are not permitted according to the guidelines. This is because a medical face mask is manufactured to a known standard. This is not true for community masks and handmade masks. The primary reason for wearing a mask is to stop transfer of the virus to other people – bearing in mind that some people may have the virus but show no symptoms. Therefore, everyone should wear a medical face mask to ensure a standard level of protection. 

A medical face mask (also known as a surgical or procedure mask) is a medical device covering the mouth, nose and chin ensuring a barrier that limits the transition of an infective agent between the hospital staff and the patient. They are used to prevent large respiratory droplets and splashes from reaching the mouth and the nose of the wearer and help reduce and/or control at the source the spread of large respiratory droplets from the person wearing the face mask. Medical masks comply with requirements defined in European Standard EN 14683:2014. 

A non-medical face mask (or ‘community’ masks) include various forms of self-made or commercial masks or face covers made of cloth, other textiles or other materials such as paper. They are not standardised and are not intended for use in healthcare settings or by healthcare professionals. Non-medical face masks are in use and recommended in some EU/EEA countries and the UK. However, evidence about their efficacy in preventing transmission of COVID-19 is lacking. This is a reason they are not recommended for the air travel.

There are short times during standard airport processes where you may be asked to remove your face mask briefly, for example during security checks or at border control. 

Yes. Physical distancing between individuals of at least 1.5 metres should be maintained as much as is possible in the airport. 

In general, everyone should wear a medical face mask at all times throughout the journey, but children below 6 years old and people having a medical reason for not wearing face masks can be exempted.

Typically, medical face masks should be replaced after 4 hours (unless otherwise advised by the manufacturer), or after a shorter period if they have become wet or soiled. For this reason, please evaluate the duration of your journey and take with yourself a sufficient number of masks.

Passengers should bring a sufficient supply of masks for the entire duration of their journey. Airports have been encouraged to offer the purchase of masks at their premises (e.g. vending machines) in case passengers have been unable to acquire sufficient medical face masks beforehand. We recommend to contact the departure airport and clarify this issue before your journey.

Airports and airlines have been asked to instruct passengers on the safe disposal of used medical face masks: for example through no-touch bins and single-use waste bags. Please look for specific information on this during your journey.

Yes, remember the “respiratory etiquette”. You should cover your mouth and nose with a paper towel when sneezing or coughing, even when wearing a face mask. If this is not possible, cough or sneeze into your flexed elbow. 

Where hand hygiene – washing with water and soap - is not possible, use alcohol based hand sanitising solution (such as gel, towels).

Hand hygiene – washing of hands with soap – should be reinforced at all times and is of paramount importance. The wearing of gloves may lead to a false sense of security and be counterproductive unless you are very strict about following the correct measures for glove wearing. If you choose to wear disposable gloves, they should be regularly changed and the used ones disposed of safely. Note that not all types of reusable gloves can be disinfected with alcohol-based solution. Some can deteriorate and contribute to spreading contamination. The disinfection of gloves is therefore not recommended. On the whole, it is better for passengers to follow good hand hygiene than to wear gloves.

There should be enough alcohol based hand sanitising solution
at the airport. However, you can still bring your own and take it on board providing it complies with the restrictions, dimensions and quantity that apply to carry-on liquids.
 

Keep your eyes and ears open! Airports and airlines will regularly instruct passengers via signs and announcements about the preventive measures in place at various stages of the journey in the airport and on board the aircraft. You will also be advised of the consequences of not adhering to such measures.

If you do not follow the instructions, then you may not be allowed to travel. 

• You may be refused access to the airport terminal building, to the aircraft cabin, or removed from the cabin, according to national/local legislation, if you do not follow the instructions given, which are there for the safety of all. Depending on local regulations, you may face additional consequences as determined by the local authorities.
   
• If the aircraft is already in flight, the procedures relating to handling cases of unruly passengers may be applied if you do not comply with the instructions of the cabin crew. Further actions may be taken by the local authorities at the destination airport, in line with local regulations, as a result of actions that endangers the flight and health safety of other passengers and crew members.
   

EASA has recommended that airlines and airports inform passengers of the various COVID-19 measures before they leave for the airport. In particular, this includes the very important information that you should not even come to the airport if you have COVID-19 symptoms, have tested positive for COVID-19, have been in recent contact with someone who is infected or are in quarantine. Symptoms associated with COVID-19: Fever or chills, Cough, Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, Fatigue, Muscle or body aches, Headache, New loss of taste or smell, Sore throat, Congestion or runny nose, Nausea or vomiting, Diarrhoea.

The airline is required to inform their passengers if any symptomatic passengers have been identified in the airport by the public health authorities. Such passengers will not be allowed to continue their travel if the symptoms observed indicate that they may have COVID-19. 

If you show symptoms at any time in the 14 days before your flight, you should take action as soon as possible and not even travel to the airport. Instead you should:

• Inform your general practitioner and your local health authorities, who may recommend a test for COVID-19. 
• Contact your airline to advise them you are not able to travel
• Ask to rebook your flight or request a refund. In many cases, this will be possible without penalty provided you contact the airline no later than 6 hours before the flight, and provide a doctor’s certificate confirming suspicion of COVID-19 infection. 
• Your airline will advise you on the precise rebooking or reimbursement procedures, and their applicability for your case. 
   

In order to reduce the number of people in the terminal, and to facilitate physical distancing, only travellers may enter the airport terminal buildings. Accompanying persons are allowed access only in special circumstances (e.g. accompanying or picking up a passenger requiring assistance – such as Persons with Reduced Mobility or Unaccompanied Minors).

Yes, passengers will indeed need to provide a COVID-19 health statement, with details about their health status. The health statement is a self-declaration, completed by the passenger and asks questions such as whether you have COVID-19 symptoms (Fever or chills, Cough, Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, Fatigue, Muscle or body aches, Headache, New loss of taste or smell, Sore throat, Congestion or runny nose, Nausea or vomiting, Diarrhoea),  have tested positive for COVID-19, have been in recent contact with someone who is infected or are in quarantine. 

You should receive the form to be completed from your airline before you depart for the airport. The statement can be made available to passengers during the online check-in process, for example, or via an SMS link. Passengers will be requested to acknowledge reading this information and sign or electronically authenticate their health statement. Where available, please use the electronic health statement form. 

A separate declaration is usually needed for each traveller, though there may be exceptions in the case of families travelling together or other special cases. Airlines will manage such declarations in accordance with applicable data protection rules.

For an example health statement have a look at Annex 2 of the COVID-19 Aviation Health Protocol, but please note that the actual form provided may differ.  

Contact your airline for more details.

The health safety of all depends on every individual behaving responsibly. If it becomes clear at the airport that you are symptomatic or have not fully disclosed any information in your COVID-19 health statement, you may well be denied the right to travel. Further consequences may follow depending on local rules and regulations.

Where possible, travellers should avoid contact and unnecessary touching of surfaces in all situations, to minimise the spread of COVID-19. Airports and airlines have been made aware of the need for enhanced cleaning activities both in volume and frequency and for increased ventilation of facilities. EASA has also issued special instructions with respect to aircraft disinfection.

The EASA guidelines recommend the regular cleaning and disinfecting of all frequently touched surfaces (e.g. door handles, banister rails, buttons). Particular attention should also be paid to plastic security screening trays as well as to facilities such as airport lavatories. Hand sanitiser points should be made readily available.

Airport operators have been advised to ensure proper air ventilation of their facilities. This includes minimising the percentage of air recirculation and favouring when possible the use of fresh air, in accordance with international guidance for ventilation of indoor public spaces.

Furthermore, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems should be optimised to ensure a high rate of air change. In older facilities, subject to airport/terminal construction and meteorological conditions, windows can be kept open for additional supply of fresh air, subject to the absence of horizontal air flows.

Airlines are required to perform the cleaning and disinfection of their aircraft in accordance with the EASA Aircraft cleaning and disinfection guidance.

Not in all cases. However you will be required to comply with thermal screening (temperature checks) if national policy at the departure location requires this as part of their national response plan, or if the carrying out of this procedure has been agreed with the destination State. 

• The temperature check is intended to identify passengers with a skin temperature of 38°C or higher. If that result shows in your case, at least one further temperature check will normally be carried out for confirmation purposes. Passengers with an elevated skin temperature will be referred to secondary assessment by a health professional, to establish whether this may indicate a COVID-19 infection, or follow alternative procedures in accordance with the agreed protocol of screening in that location.
   
• Airports have been recommended to provide separate interview booths for investigation of suspected cases requiring further assessment. These measures should ensure confidentiality and be set up in a way that prevents potential transmission of the virus to individuals in the neighbouring booths.

Please check with the airport before setting out on your journey, for example by checking its website. Airports should advise passengers about how to make use of airport facilities and services, in line with national regulations. We would like to remind you that the longer the time spent in public areas the higher the possibility to be infected. Please be reasonable. 

Airlines are asking passengers to take minimal hand luggage into the cabin. This will speed up the boarding and disembarking process and also reduce the movement in the cabin, and therefore the potential spread of the virus.  Where possible, airlines will make available self-check-in facilities for checked baggage, so as to avoid interaction with staff at check-in counters. 

Many airlines are promoting the carriage of luggage in the cargo compartments by implementing incentive policies. Please make sure that any luggage which will be checked in does not contain any valuable or essential items (such as cash, credit cards, keys, medicines, unreplaceable items of sentimental value), lithium batteries (in equipment or stand-alone) or other prohibited items. Have a look at  EASA's safety checklist 'Preparing your luggage - Security requirements when packing'.

Please also check with your airline on checked baggage allowances.

Wherever possible, you should use mobile or online facilities to check in before you get to the airport, as this shortens the process at the airport.

If you need to check in at the airport, you should follow local instructions to use self-check-in kiosks or proceed to a check-in counter. 

Airlines and airports are setting up their facilities to ensure that physical distancing can be respected wherever feasible, especially during check-in, security check, pre-boarding and boarding. When the recommended physical distancing of 1.5 metres is not possible -due to infrastructure or operational constraints, passengers must follow the additional risk mitigation measures such as hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette.

Passengers should look for floor markings or signs indicating the arrangements in that particular location. 

A) Can I get masks in the airplane? Or when boarding?
Passengers are required to wear a medical face mask from the moment they enter the departure terminal until the time they leave the terminal at the destination airport. You should bring a sufficient supply of medical face masks for the entire duration of your journey, bearing in mind that the mask normally need to be changed at least every four hours. Airports and airline operators have been encouraged to make it possible to buy medical face masks if passengers do not have access to a sufficient quantity before they embark on their journey. We recommend to contact the departure airport and clarify this issue before your journey.

B) How will physical distancing be ensured while boarding the plane?
Airlines, airport operators and relevant service providers have been asked to review their boarding procedures to ensure these are as efficient as possible and limit the risk of virus transfer through close contact with other people. Depending on the terminal facilities, you may encounter the following boarding procedures:

1. walking in a spaced manner from the gate to the parked aircraft on the apron, or 
2. travel via buses to the parked aircraft, and then via stairs, or 
3. via an air bridge directly onto the aircraft. 

Where buses are used as part of the boarding process, more buses than usual will be provided, wherever feasible, to allow for adequate physical distancing inside them. 

Where boarding is performed using an air bridge, airlines may adopt processes to make the process smoother and quicker. For example, your flight may board by rows starting with the furthest row from the aircraft entrance doors. Alternatively, all window seat passengers may board first, followed by middle seats, followed by aisle seats. 

In all cases, you should observe the instructions given by airport staff and cabin crew for your particular flight. 

Airlines have been provided with specialist technical instructions to ensure the air quality in the cabin is as high as possible. The air quality in the cabin is higher than many of us regularly breathe on the ground. This is because the entire air supply is typically exchanged every 3-5 minutes. In addition, most modern aircraft use high quality filters, known as HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters, which are fine enough to trap the viral load and release clean air. 

Passengers themselves are expected to behave responsibly for their own welfare and for the good of their fellow passengers. In particular, you will be expected to adopt:

• Hand hygiene, particularly before eating or drinking and after use of the toilet
• Appropriate use of medical face masks 
• Respiratory etiquette – cough or sneeze into a paper towel or flexed elbow
• Limiting contact – do not touch cabin surfaces unnecessarily and try to stay in the seat as much as possible
• Reducing the use of individual air supply nozzles as far as  possible, unless otherwise advised by the cabin crew on your flight

Contact your airline or consult its website in advance to check on in-flight services for your flight. In general, you should expect a reduced level of service, particularly on short-haul flights. This is to limit movement in the cabin and to prevent potential transfer of the virus through contact with surfaces. The recommendation to airlines include distribution or availability of packed goods (such as bottle of water or a wrapped sandwich) but this will vary in individual flights and according to the service procedures of your airline

Please contact your airline for any information about the on-board service. 

In case of emergency, follow the instructions as shown during the safety demonstration. If cabin pressure is lost and oxygen masks are released, passengers should remove their medical face masks before putting on the aircraft oxygen masks and follow any further instructions from the air crew. As always, remember to secure your own supply of oxygen before helping others, such as children. Note that air crew members will remove their protective face masks in case of any emergency, so as to facilitate the communication of instructions to passengers.

Airlines will put measures into place to manage the passenger use of lavatories so as to avoid passengers queuing in the aisle or the galleys for the use of the lavatories.  Please also note that, in some aircraft, a lavatory may be reserved for crew use only.

The quality of air provided during a flight is very high. This is due to frequent exchange of air (the entire air supply is typically exchanged every 3-5 minutes) and the High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters which are used on board of most modern aircraft. Airlines and airport operators will work together to ensure that passengers are not kept on board an aircraft without proper ventilation for longer than 30 minutes.

In line with passenger load, cabin configuration and mass and balance requirements, airlines should ensure, to the extent possible, physical distancing among passengers and arrange the seat allocation accordingly. 

If physical distancing cannot be guaranteed because of the passenger load, seat configuration or other operational constraints, passengers and crew members on board an aircraft should adhere at all times to all the other preventive measures including strict hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette and should wear a face mask. 

A) Can I sit with my family /partner/ friends? 
Family members and individuals travelling together as part of the same household can be seated together even in cases where other passengers are spaced across the aircraft for physical distancing purposes. 

Contact your airline for details. In general, there will be only a reduced food and drink service, particularly on short-haul flights, with preference given to pre-packaged and sealed food and drink products, such as canned drinks. Airlines have been advised to reduce on-board service to the minimum necessary to ensure comfort and wellbeing for passengers and to limit the contact between them and crew members.

A) Can I pay cash on-board?
This depends on your airline. In general, wherever possible, cash payments should be avoided to reduce the possibility of transmission of the virus through surface contact between crew members and passengers.

No duty free or other non-essential products will be sold on board to limit movement in the cabin and contact between passengers and cabin crew.

General cabin safety recommendations remain valid. Passengers should remain seated with their seatbelt fastened as far as possible.

Passengers should ensure sufficient supply of face masks for the duration of their journey. However, airlines should carry a sufficient number of face masks on board to provide to passengers, especially for long-haul flights where the need to change masks may be advised by public health authorities. Speak to your cabin crew if you discover you need an additional mask while on board the aircraft.

Passengers who do not voluntarily follow the COVID-19 procedures or abide by crew instructions will be treated as “unruly passengers”, the term used in the industry for passengers who misbehave on board, for example through intoxication or through verbal or physical altercations with others on board.

This can lead to immediate action on board to curtail such activities, with possible further consequences on landing, depending on the local regulations. 

Have a look at our communication "Not On My Flight".

Disembarking should follow the same general principles as boarding, depending on the facilities at the arrival airport:

• Physical distancing should be practiced as far as possible during the disembarkation procedure. 
• Depending on the terminal facilities, disembarkation can be completed via buses from the parked aircraft, by walking in a spaced manner from the parked aircraft to the gate, or by using the stairs or air bridges directly into the terminal.

All facilities used in the disembarkation process should be subject to enhanced cleaning and ventilation procedures in place.

Used face masks should be discarded safely in a separate tightly closed waste bag, which can be disposed as regular waste.

A PLC contains passenger contact data, which the airlines need to provide to the relevant public health authorities for contact tracing purposes, in case anyone who travelled on your flight tests positive for COVID-19 within the following few days after arrival.  It should include: 

• Your full name
• Allocated seat
• Phone number (or email address)

Airlines should provide this information in line with applicable data protection rules. The contact information may be collected at check-in through the normal check-in process or you may be required to fill in a separate form. Further data, such as the address where you will be staying, may also be requested. 

For an example PLC have a look at Annex 1 of the COVID-19 Aviation Health Protocol.  

If implementation of entry thermal screening is required, for example due to national response plan decisions or regulations, yes, a further check may be required.

Passengers showing symptoms following the assessment and who are suspected as being positive for COVID-19, will be required to comply with the instructions of the local public health authorities in terms of testing, transport and quarantine.

The general process remains the same, but do not forget to follow all preventive measures, including physical distancing, hand hygiene and wearing a medical face mask also at the arrival airport.

Passengers should leave the arrival terminal as soon as possible after completing any border formalities and collecting their checked luggage so as to minimise the possibility of transmission of COVID-19.

Access to the terminal is limited to passengers, crew members and staff. “Meet and greet” passengers will only be allowed in special cases, such as for passengers requiring mobility assistance and unaccompanied minors. For these cases, a dedicated area should be set up away from the exits from the restricted area and away from the main passenger flows, so as to reduce the contact between arriving passengers and other individuals.