Airline-Imposed Vaccination Requirement for Air Travel: Considerations from a German Perspective

Since the start of vaccination against Covid-19 there is an ongoing debate on privileges for people that achieved immunity either by vaccination or a recovery from Covid itself. With the beginning of the vaccination process, airlines and their associations have been addressing the need of immunity passes for travel. Linking the possibility to travel with receiving a vaccination beforehand could be considered a forced vaccination through the back door of private business. This article aims to shed light on the specific scenario the aviation industry is facing from a legal perspective. Despite its focus on German and European law in particular, most of the considerations will be applicable in other jurisdictions as well. It becomes obvious that a contractual requirement to receive a vaccination before being allowed to fly is resulting in a variety of concerns from competition and anti-discrimination law perspectives to moral considerations of contracting. Virtually all aspects discussed in this article relate back to the fundamental rights position of travellers and airlines. By weighing the rights affected, it is concluded to be legal for airlines to require their passengers to receive a vaccination against Covid-19.