From June 1, 2022, FFP2 masks will no longer be necessary in Austria on public transport, including airplanes. The official wording from Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) is that the mask requirement should be paused for an expected three months. Ryanair has already confirmed that one from June 1, 2022 will no longer insist on covering the mouth and nose on flights to Austria.

The second-largest provider at Vienna-Schwechat Airport has already decided that it will be possible to fly without a mask from next Wednesday. However, this only applies if there are no instructions to the contrary from the target country. In concrete terms, this means that, for example, nothing will change on flights to Germany for the time being.

Austrian Airlines, on the other hand, is still waiting. A spokeswoman told Aviation.Direct on request: “In order to evaluate the implementation in flight operations at Austrian Airlines, the regulation on the suspension of the mask requirement must be published. As soon as the exact wording is known, we can examine the handling on board our flights."

Austria is currently the only country in the world to insist on FFP2 masks. In a European comparison, the mask requirement at airports and on board aircraft is abolished comparatively late. Health Minister Rauch does not want to speak of a final abolition either, but only speaks of a break that should last about three months.

Vienna's mayor ensures an obscure special route

However, an obscure peculiarity is also looming in Austria, because Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) wants to go a special way again and not lift the FFP2 mask requirement in public transport. If Vienna does not give in by June 1, 2022, this will lead to the obscure circumstance that, for example, at Vienna Airport (Lower Austria) you can board the express train, the Railjet, the Vienna Airport Lines or the City Airport Train completely legally without an FFP2 mask may. You can then drive without a mask up to the Lower Austria-Vienna border and then wear an FFP2 mask on Vienna’s sovereign territory. This cannot be surpassed in terms of senselessness and will hardly be observed by tourists, because how are they supposed to know where the federal state border is?

A look at Marchegg shows that such “rules” do not work in practice. In Slovakia, masks have not been compulsory on public transport for several weeks. So passengers in Bratislava hl. St. completely legally without mouth and nose protection or even an FFP2 mask on the train. FFP2 masks should then be worn from the state border, which is located near the Austrian train station Marchegg. In practice, however, this is not implemented, so that the journey continues without a mask to the destination of Vienna Central Station.

In aviation, things are not that different now either, because on flights to/from Austria, the FFP2 mask requirement is only sporadically complied with at best. The news magazine “Der Spiegel” tried from the fact that Swiss no longer insists on masks on connections from Germany to Switzerland to stage a real scandal. Of course, the German Ministry of Health takes the view, which contradicts aviation law, that German regulations take precedence in principle. Whether Michael Ludwig will insist that FFP2 masks have to be worn in the small airspace over Vienna remains to be seen...