US extends mask mandate on flights into April

The US government has extended its federal mask mandate once more, meaning passengers must continue to wear face masks on all flights, trains and airports in the country until at least 18 April.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced the extension of the order, which was due to expire on 18 March, on Thursday.

A White House official told NBC News that the extra month would allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to work with government agencies “to help inform a revised policy framework for when the mask rules can be lifted”.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement that the travel body’s collaboration with industry and federal partners had been successful, adding: “Now we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel as demonstrated by the rapid recovery of the travel industry.”

The federal 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, and again in January 2022.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said last month that they had “every expectation that the mask mandate [would be] extended for the near term,” pointing to the fact that not every passenger was fully vaccinated.

“The conditions in aviation are the same. Our youngest passengers do not yet have access to the vaccine,” it stated in a press release.

Speaking in early February, President Biden said that “losing masks is probably premature”, though he also noted the “profound impact on the psyche of the American people” that the pandemic and accompanying restrictions have taken.

The news comes as United Airlines announces it will allow its unvaccinated employees to return to customer-facing roles at the end of this month, following a strict staff vaccination policy in 2021.