Airlines criticise Spain for being the only European country where face masks are compulsory on planes

The president of the Airline Association (ALA), Javier Gándara, believes that “it is not justified” that Spain is the only European country that continues to require the use of a face mask on board an aircraft, after this Saturday’s withdrawal of this obligation in Germany.

In an interview on Onda Cero, Gándara defended the fact that air transport “has demonstrated that, due to the filters and air circulation, it is one of the safest forms” of mobility, which is why he trusts that this regulation will soon be repealed in Spain.

“There is an incongruity because in the rest of our normal life it is already removed and there are people who are in concerts and closed halls with much worse ventilation than an aeroplane and they no longer use it”, said the president of ALA, who described this situation as “incoherent”.

With regard to the recovery of the sector, Gándara understands that throughout this year “it has been demonstrated that travelling is something inherent to human nature, that people want to continue doing it”.

For this reason, he hopes that certain “risks”, such as the adoption of new taxes for reasons of sustainability – in allusion to the paraffin tax being considered by the European Union – do not cause the “democratisation” of this form of transport to regress, so that flying does not become “something for the rich”.