COVID-19: Airlines urge Biden administration to discontinue masks mandate

*A group of airline operators in the United States, in a letter to President Joe Biden, stated that cases of the novel Coronavirus are declining in the US, seeking a return to ‘normal’

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

The United States (US) airline officials are asking The White House, in Washington, to lift the Federal mask mandate on airplanes, as well as the pre-departure testing requirement for international travellers flying back into the American country.

ConsumerConnect gathered the Chief Executives and officials representing Delta, United, American, Airlines for America, and seven other US airlines, in their collective opinion,  stated that discontinuing the mandate was warranted due to the falloff in COVID-19 cases in the US.

According to the airline operators, these actions are already happening in other consumer categories across the country.

This is the second such effort to roll back the federal mask mandate in the last couple of weeks.

The US Senate, earlier March 2022, reportedly passed a resolution to end the mandate for travel after President Biden, the Transportation Safety Authority (TSA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended the mask mandate until mid-April.

Mandate does not fit the COVID-19 situation

The main ax the airlines have to grind with the White House is that the mandate is “no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment,” a group said in a letter to President Biden.

They wrote: “During the global health crisis, US airlines have supported and cooperated with the federal government’s measures to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“We are encouraged by the current data and the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions from coast to coast, which indicate it is past time to eliminate COVID-era transportation policies.”

The US Travel Association also called on the Biden administration to drop the current protocol mandates, saying in a statement that the “public health benefits of these policies have now greatly diminished” and that the “economic consequences continue to grow.”

The plea to end the federal mask mandate comes as Canada, the Netherlands, Thailand, and other countries have dropped pre-arrival testing.

Aruba, Ireland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom (UK) have also removed pandemic-era travel restrictions completely, agency report said.