The new EASA document is a wonderfully woolly affair – if it had four legs it would probably baa!!
“The guidelines place paramount importance on health safety at every stage of the end-to-end passenger journey.”
Guidelines – in other words: pick the bits you like as it isn’t mandated at this point. Plenty of wiggle room here with phrases like "wherever possible" and "as much as practicable within operational constraints". So if the flight is full, it’s accepted that physical distancing isn’t going to be possible. No foul based on the guidelines.
I’m intrigued by the phrase. “Air passengers and general population have to be assured that filtered air on airplanes is safer and cleaner than many of us breathe on the ground.” A great aspiration but I am not sure it really knows how the industry will deliver that assurance. I accept it is all about confidence and that isn't something that can be produced in a set of EASA guidelines.
Overall, this could be a blueprint for getting aviation moving again which will be a massive endeavour. Millions of people’s livelihoods (mine included) rely on making that happen so that makes this a potentially positive step.
I would however suggest that this document plays strongly to the commercial and economic requirements of making that happen which is fine although I have some discomfort that in doing so, it delivers little to the stated “paramount importance of health and safety at every stage.”