- The Biden Administration has extended the mask mandate on public transportation to April 18.
- Travel analyst Henry Harteveldt worries about an "uneven set of policies that exist" surrounding masks.
- Recent CDC guidance allows 70% of the US population to remove their masks in places with low and medium COVID-19 levels.
The federal mask mandate on public transportation, including commercial aircraft, will be extended for 30 days, the Transportation Security Administration announced on Thursday.
The requirement for passengers to wear a mask on aircraft, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation was first implemented in January 2021 by President Joe Biden. Now, more than one year later, the mandate is still in effect through April 18, at the earliest, after the administration extended it past its March 18 expiration date.
"This revised framework will be based on the COVID-19 community levels, risk of new variants, national data, and the latest science," the TSA said in a statement. "We will communicate any updates publicly if and/or when they change."
Henry Harteveldt, travel analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group, told Insider that he is surprised that the CDC extended the mandate on aircraft because the agency has allowed the requirement to end in several states and cities. According to recent CDC guidance, about 70% of the US population can remove their masks.
"The concern that I have is that it just contributes to this very uneven set of policies that exist," he told Insider. "It makes airlines and airports look like the bad guys when they have to remind passengers that masks are still required."
"It also puts workers in an uncomfortable position because the second you step out of that airport terminal, you are probably going to be in a community where mask-wearing is no longer required," he continued.
A source told CNN that there is a chance the mask mandate will be dropped before April 18 if cases and transmission rates across the US lower to acceptable levels.
The mask requirement on aircraft has been a burden for airline and airport workers who have been the victims of verbal and physical attacks by unruly passengers. In 2021, there were nearly 6,000 disruptive passenger reports made to the Federal Aviation Administration, with over 4,000 of which being mask-related, according to the agency.
The Transport Workers Union, which represents flight attendants at several US carriers, said that it supports "any federal guidance based on science and the recommendations of the CDC" in a statement to Insider but noted that the mandate has led to an increased rate of unruly behavior on planes.
"Unruly passengers were an issue that our members dealt with before the pandemic, but we have seen this behavior dramatically increase over the past two years since mask mandates were enacted," TWU International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia said. "Regardless of how the TSA moves forward after April, any violence against flight crew should not be tolerated, and measures should be put in place to better protect them."