United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the federal mask mandate for air travel is “very unlikely” to return soon in an interview on NBC’s The Today Show on Thursday morning.
Kirby’s remarks come after a federal judge overturned the mandate for air travel and public transportation on Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday night that it asked the Justice Department to appeal the ruling, and still recommends masking on planes.
“We were on the road, I think, to removing the mask [mandate] even before the judge’s ruling,” Kirby said. “This appeal is mostly about jurisdiction. I think it’s very unlikely that a mask requirement is going to come back any time in the foreseeable future.”
Kirby noted that “broadly everywhere, indoors, we’re getting back to living live as normal” due to availability of Covid vaccines and other treatments, while saying that planes and airports are some of the safest indoor areas to be in because of air filtration systems.
“The airports actually wind up being one of the safer places as well because the standards for air filters are higher,” Kirby said.
EXCLUSIVE: United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby joins us to talk about the mask mandate ruling, where the heated battle will go ahead of the busy travel season, staffing and more. pic.twitter.com/A9LDlqsYzO
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 21, 2022
Various airline CEOs including Kirby signed an open letter to President Biden in March calling to end the air travel mask mandate.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday that the Biden administration continues to recommend mask-wearing on planes, but that Americans are currently not legally obligated to do so.
“People are not legally bound to wear masks. So, it is a point in time where it is up to people, it is their choice,” Psaki said.