Delta Monday said it will continue to comply with the US TSA directive on masks until it is informed otherwise. The comments came hours after a federal judge in Florida ruled that the mask mandate on public transportation was unlawful, overturning a Biden administration effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.<br/>
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Korean Air’s CE has urged South Korean authorities to lift pandemic restrictions on air passengers, warning the country was opening “too slowly” to beat regional rivals in the race to capture pent-up demand. Walter Cho, CE and scion of the controlling family of the airline’s parent Hanjin Group, said bookings were full for the next three months but restrictions on passenger volumes had stopped the company from adding more flights. “They should be opening up and we should be at, at least 80 or 90% capacity. But right now, we’re basically at 25% and can’t sell any more tickets,” he said. South Korean authorities lifted social-distancing measures and downgraded Covid-19 to a “Class 2” disease on Monday, ending restrictions that were first imposed in March 2020. But limits on air passenger volumes remain. Domestic flights accounted for just 6.6% of Korean Air’s total revenues in 2019, highlighting the financial importance of overseas arrivals to the airline. “People want to get out to vacation spots in Asia — to Singapore, to Thailand, to Vietnam,” said Cho, describing as “nonsense” the PCR test requirement for all inbound passengers to South Korea. Cho also rejected concerns about the flagship carrier’s proposed merger with local rival Asiana Airlines, arguing that it would boost competitiveness in a crowded Asian market. The proposed $1.6b purchase of a 63.9% stake in Asiana has received qualified approval from the Korea Fair Trade Commission but awaits decisions from regulators in several other jurisdictions including the US, EU and China. The merger would create the world’s 10th largest airline in terms of combined international passenger and cargo volume, with the fourth-largest share of air cargo.<br/>