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Passengers will no longer be mandated to wear masks on domestic flights from 9 September — but will still have to wear them on inbound international services.
It follows a meeting of the national cabinet on Wednesday, which also dropped COVID-19 isolation requirements from seven to five days.
Currently, international passengers are bound by the rules set by the country they are flying into. It means those flying from Sydney to London aren’t mandated to wear a face covering, but passengers coming the other way do.
Masks are also not required at airports, but are required to be worn on public transport in most states.
Qantas said it “welcomed” the new domestic rules but would continue to provide masks to those who felt more comfortable wearing them.
Virgin said it “noted” the decision, while Rex said it believed “now [is] the right time” to relax the rules.
It comes after Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in June that Australia must “move on” from mandating passengers to wear masks on flights.
Joyce argued that the country was “a little behind the curve” on the rules, particularly on international flights.
“I’ve gone back to Europe [and] to North America a few times and I’m wearing the mask for 17 hours. It is not very comfortable. And people know that,” said Joyce.
“In the United States and around Europe, the mask mandates have been dropped.
“We’ve had a change of government and we had to wait for the election to change with a new government in place and a new federal transport minister in place. I talked to her about this and we’re hoping to make progress pretty soon.”
Qantas also earlier dropped its requirement that passengers on international flights should be vaccinated against COVID-19, following a federal government decision.
The outgoing federal rule led to a diplomatic incident earlier this year when tennis player Novak Djokovic was allowed into the country to play in the Australian Open before being effectively deported a week later.
The new isolation rules, taking isolation down to five days, only apply to those with no symptoms, while states will make their own decisions on future public transport mask rules.
