French airlines not accepting passengers with fabric masks

Oct 28, 2023

Air Corsica has informed passengers that they must wear surgical masks, or masks with one of the FFP norms when flying with the airline. Passengers under the age of 11 are not required to wear masks on flights.

Similarly, Air France's website states that passengers must wear a surgical mask when flying.

[INFO] Les masques en tissu grand public ne sont pas autorisés sur nos vols selon les dispositions du Décret 2020-860 ! Seuls les masques chirurgicaux FFP1 ou de type FFP2 ou FFP3 doivent être portés à bord de nos avions par les passagers de plus de 11 ans #gestesbarrieres pic.twitter.com/VxvNUcBWFP

FFP stands for ‘filtering facepiece particles’, and is a classification given to a mask that conforms to certain protective European norms.

These masks are intended to protect the wearer from both inhalation of droplets and airborne particles, which may contain infectious agents.

FFP types 1, 2 and 3 have different levels of filtering efficiency, with type 3 the most efficient.

Only FFP2 and 3 have a significant protective effect from the coronavirus, FFP1 masks do, however, provide effective protection for others from infected droplets you may breathe out.

According to a decree published by the French government in May, "all persons aged eleven or over shall, on board an aircraft engaged in public transport to, from or within the national territory, wear the protective mask referred to in section I of Article 49 from the moment of boarding."

The article referred to then states that masks should either conform to the norm EN 14683, which refers to surgical standard masks, or be another mask made in France or Europe and authorised by French safety authorities to be used, but not costing more than 95 centimes per mask.

Easyjet, Ryanair and Jet2 all state on their websites that masks must be worn by passengers on board their planes, but they do not specify which types of masks should be worn.

For general use in France, such as on trains and trams, or in shops, fabric masks are considered acceptable if they conform to a new 'general public mask' standard that France brought in for washable, reusable masks.

When and where you must wear a mask in France: Checklist

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