COLOGNE/STOCKHOLM, June 17, 2021 – The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) today issued a new version of the Aviation Health Safety Protocol providing clear operational guidance and risk-based recommendations for health-safe air travel to complement the European Union’s initiatives, such as the EU Digital COVID Certificates.
The new version of the document takes into account new evidence and information such as the circulation of variants of concern (VOCs) and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programmes. The new version also emphasises the need to keep non-pharmaceutical measures in place – such as the wearing of medical face masks, hygiene measures and physical distancing. It is intended to provide support to national authorities in the Member States and to aviation stakeholders and is based on the latest scientific evidence, epidemiological situation and policy developments.
“We have reached a significant milestone in the pandemic: a real change in approach that can allow travellers to fly again without worrying excessively that the rules may change at short notice, complicating their journey or making it impossible,” said EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky. “The industry – and passengers – have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Thanks to the expert epidemiological input from ECDC we are confident that this protocol offers practical and pragmatic guidelines for health-safe travel.”
In line with current scientific evidence and the European Council recommendation, the Protocol proposes that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or who recovered from the disease in the last 180 days should not be subject to testing or quarantine unless they are coming from an area of very high risk or where a Variant of Concern is circulating. For travel from such destinations, the requirement for a negative test could be considered. This could be either a Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT) taken no more than 48 hours before arrival or a PCR test no more than 72 hours before arrival. Also, the use of Passenger Locator Forms to facilitate contact tracing is still considered very important.
In addition, the physical distancing of at least one metre must be maintained and medical masks must be worn at all stages of the journey. Hand and respiratory hygiene measures also need to be observed. All these measures are recommended for EU air travel, but also for air travel to and from third countries.
“The rollout of COVID- vaccination programmes has thankfully allowed for the relaxation of some measures for fully vaccinated travellers,” said Andrea Ammon, ECDC Director. “But if measures are relaxed too soon also for non-vaccinated people, then we may see a rapid rise in cases again. This is based on the current scientific evidence as well as ECDC modelling predictions, which take into account the gradual relaxing of non-pharmaceutical measures, circulation of variants of concern, and the rollout of vaccination programmes. In order to effectively control community transmission of the virus, we need to continue the roll-out of vaccinations and exercise caution until a sufficient proportion of the European population has received their vaccine.”
Emphasis should be placed on ensuring that the new elements of the protocol, such as the checking of proof of vaccination or recovery should not create bottlenecks and queues in airport processes. The protocol recommends that the information should be checked once in each journey, ideally prior to arriving at the airport of departure. This should also be the case for transfer passengers.
The recommendations are non-binding on the Member States. Nevertheless, it is hoped that countries across Europe will adopt its recommendations so as to ensure harmonisation and the safe recovery of the air transport and tourism sector. As part of the consultation process, the AHSP and the principles behind it were presented to the Health Security Committee and the members of the EU’s integrated political crisis response mechanism (IPCR) as well as the National Aviation Authorities and the EASA Advisory Bodies .
EASA will monitor the implementation of the protocol, which will be further updated in the future in line with the latest scientific evidence and epidemiological information.
Executive summary
This document is intended to provide support to Member States’ national authorities and aviation stakeholders to ensure, in a coordinated manner, the health and safety of passengers and the aviation personnel who serve them, by maintaining safe and secure operations whilst minimising the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
The document incorporates the latest scientific evidence and expert opinion from ECDC and EASA as well as the latest initiatives of the European Union, such as the EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) and the digital Passenger Locator Form (dPLF) and the Council Recommendations on international travel to the EU and intra-EU free movement.
The document presents recommended non-pharmaceutical interventions and other measures customised for each stage of the journey as well as risk-based recommendations for entry measures for the three categories of people:
- Persons fully vaccinated according to manufacturers’ recommendations,
- Persons who recovered from COVID-19 within the previous 180 days,
- Persons who were not vaccinated and who did not recover from COVID-19 in the previous 180 days.
Countries should consider that vaccinated persons and persons who recovered from COVID-19 within the previous 180 days, who are not arriving from very high-risk countries or areas with community circulation of Variants of Concern (VOCs) and who can provide evidence of that by using the DCC, or for third-country nationals by using similar means of certification, should not be subject to testing or quarantine. Exceptionally, for such passengers arriving from very high-risk countries or areas with community circulation of Variants of Concern (VOCs) Rapid Antigen Detection Test (RADT) testing could be considered before departure or upon arrival.
Verification of proof of health or of a DCC, from a health safety perspective, is best organised arriving at the airport. If verification has been reliably completed prior to departure, repeated checking later on in the journey, including notably at arrival, serves little medical purpose, and could lead to unnecessary queuing.
For persons who are not vaccinated and/or who have not recovered from COVID-19 in the previous 180 days, a risk-based approach to entry measures should be considered based on the risk in the country of origin and the risk tolerance in the country of destination in accordance with the recommendations provided in Section 4 of the document.
These recommendations aim to ensure the health and safety of air passengers in a coordinated manner in order to avoid duplication and limit as much as possible queuing and the time spent by the passengers in travel (in the terminal building, aircraft or in-between). In this regard, the document emphasises the use of ‘one-stop’ principles and the importance of a risk-based approach in accordance with safety management system principles. Member States should ensure that their travel-related measures are well and in time communicated and coordinated, and not imposed unilaterally in order to facilitate compliance by travellers.
It is expected that the preventive measures recommended in these operational guidelines can be gradually scaled back over time in line with a reduction of the risk level through the rollout of vaccination campaigns.
ECDC and EASA are constantly monitoring the epidemiological situation and will adjust the current recommendations as appropriate.
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