US mask mandate for flights expected to be extended past March

‘We have every expectation’ that it will stay in place, says country’s biggest flight attendants union

All cabin crew, pilots and passengers have had to wear masks since January 2021 (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The US government is expected to extend its federal mask mandate - the rule that has kept air passengers in masks across all airlines and airports since 2020 - past March 2022.

“We have every expectation that the mask mandate will be extended for the near term,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said in a statement to press. “The conditions in aviation are the same. Our youngest passengers do not yet have access to the vaccine.”

The AFA is the largest union of flight attendants in the US, representing more than 50,000 workers in the aviation industry.

The US’ mask mandate was originally put in place in February 2021, as one of President Joe Biden’s earliest executive orders. It was then extended in August 2021, then January 2022. It is currently set to expire on 18 March.

It means that all air passengers and customers must wear masks on every flight going in, out or across the country, as well as in every airport, with individual states unable to make their own rules on the matter.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data shows that masks have been linked to a surge in disruptive passenger behaviour on board American flights - of 5,981 onboard disputes recorded on the country’s airlines last year, 72 per cent were related to masks.

Travel environments from cruise ships to Disneyland are beginning to drop their mask requirements, as the vaccine is rolled out worldwide and the Covid-19 situation appears to stabilise.

There is no set date for the US government to either end or extend the mask mandate, but with the current order set to expire in just over three weeks, airlines and unions alike are awaiting an update.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents about 22,000 cabin crew, told Bloomberg that it would not oppose an extension of the mask rule, but that it is “looking forward to the day that it is no longer needed”.

Earlier this month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and US Representative Beth Van Duyne filed a lawsuit suing the Biden administration to end mask mandates on planes.

They argue that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) exceeded its authority when it put the mandate in place.