Two major airline CEOs said that President Joe Biden‘s mask mandate for all air travel does not “add much” to air quality and safety in cabins, The Daily Wire reported.
“I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment,” Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said at a Senate committee hearing. “It is very safe and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting.”
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker agreed with Kelly.
“I concur, an aircraft is the safest place you can be,” Parker said.
Both said that all airlines come equipped with high-grade HEPA air filters, which remove contaminants and contagions from the air inside the cabin.
“It’s true of all of our aircraft — they all have the same HEPA filters and air flow,” Parker saiid.
The Senate Commerce Committee held the hearing to hear from airline CEOs about the subsidies they received from the federal government, vaccine mandates, and mask mandates.
Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health came to the same conclusion as Kelly and Parker.
“Analysis from the report shows that ventilation of air on aircraft reduces the possibility of exposure to COVID-19, lower than other common settings, such as a grocery store or indoor restaurant,” the report found. “Because of the frequent exchange of air and HEPA filters on planes, over 99% of the particles containing the virus are removed from cabin air.”
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., trusted his emotions more than the scientific analysis, saying he was “shocked” by their comments.
He found it “immoral” that these CEOs “still allow unvaccinated people on planes.”
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, who has mandated COVID-19 injections for all his employees, disagreed with Kelly and Parker, Reuters reported.
“We did this for safety. We believe it saved lives,” Kirby said without evidence. “We don’t compromise on safety.”
