A group of executives from several top U.S. airlines sent a letter to the Biden administration asking to rescind the numerous COVID-19 restrictions on air travel, claiming that the current state of the virus does not warrant mask mandates or pre-departure testing requirements.
The March 23 letter mentioned high rates of vaccination and pointed to other countries doing away with restrictions in an effort to sway President Joe Biden toward lifting mandates, ABC News reported. The airlines represented in the letter include Delta, American, United, Southwest and JetBlue.
"Now is the time for the Administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions — including the international predeparture testing requirement and the federal mask mandate — that are no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment," the letter said.
The Transportation Security Administration, acting on advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on March 10 elected to push the deadline for coronavirus-related travel restrictions to April 18, the CDC reported in a release.
Under Biden's direction, the CDC announced a federal mask mandate on Jan. 30, 2021, which required masks to be worn by all travelers in, coming into, or leaving the U.S. The mandate went into effect Feb. 2, 2021.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's website confirmed that the TSA has extended the federal mask requirement through April 18. The DOT said that the TSA and CDC orders apply to public transportation under the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
