(Headline USA) United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby suggested this week that his airline will not enforce another travel mask mandate even if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is able to reimpose one.
“We were on the road, I think, to removing the masks even before the judge’s ruling,” Kirby told The Hill. “This appeal is mostly about jurisdiction. I think it’s very unlikely the mask requirement is going to come back anytime in the foreseeable future.”
United was one of the first airlines to allow customers to take their masks off after a federal judge in Florida struck down the CDC’s travel mask mandate.
Kirby pointed out that those who still want to wear masks are still free to do so.
“All of our customers should feel free to wear a mask, and many of them are,” Kirby said. “For customers like that, that are immunocompromised or that have other concerns or issues, we are working with those customers if they really don’t want to fly.”
The Biden administration announced this week that it will appeal the judge’s decision after the CDC requested the move.
In a statement, the CDC claimed that masks are still necessary for the public health, and that the judge’s decision must be reversed so that it can hold onto the power to reimpose masks whenever it wants.
“To protect CDC’s public health authority beyond the ongoing assessment announced last week, CDC has asked DOJ to proceed with an appeal,” the agency said in a statement.
NEW: The CDC has asked the administration to fight the court decision that voided masks on public transit, saying it’s still the case that masks on transportation remain “necessary for the public health” pic.twitter.com/jR8kGYwnoZ
— Cheyenne Haslett (@cheyennehaslett) April 20, 2022
“CDC continues to recommend that people wear masks in all indoor public transportation settings,” the statement continued. “CDC’s number one priority is protecting the public health of our nation.”
