US airlines back Biden plan to mandate masks for passengers

A group representing major US airlines Thursday backed President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to mandate face coverings for all air passengers, but asked him to give them flexibility in enforcing it. Airlines for America asked Biden in a letter seen by Reuters to “allow air carriers to maintain their existing policies and practices which are aimed at de-escalating conflict in-flight and allowing the aircraft to continue while providing a consequential enforcement backstop on the ground.” The airline group noted airlines have been enforcing the requirements and prohibiting passengers that do not comply from flying for the duration of the pandemic. “Thousands of passengers have been barred to date,” the letter to Biden read, saying it hopes the Democrat applies the legal requirement to airports as well. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which has demanded a federal face covering mandate since early in the pandemic, said the mandate would provide one standard across US aviation and back up flight attendants and other airline workers who must enforce compliance. Republican President Donald Trump opposed legally requiring airline, train and public transit passengers and workers to wear masks amid the pandemic, and the White House rejected efforts by the CDC to require face coverings.<br/>