Feds won’t require masks for air travel

Federal officials said Thursday that airlines should consider limiting capacity on planes to promote social distancing, but they are not considering making the airlines do it.

The officials also recommended — but did not move to require — that travelers wear face coverings in airports and on planes. All leading U.S. airlines now require passengers to wear masks, but regulators have refused a request by the airlines to make it a federal rule.

The Transportation, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services departments made those and other recommendations in a report containing guidelines for reducing the risk of spreading the new coronavirus by air travel.

The agencies said airlines and airports should take steps to increase social distancing, clean surfaces touched by passengers, and ask passengers about their health to discourage people who may be ill from traveling.

“[It] provides clear guidance to airlines and airports to protect the traveling public, and we encourage people to pay attention to it,” said Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

Fourteen aviation and business organizations including the largest airline trade group, Airlines for America, said the guidelines could help the U.S. negotiate an end to international travel bans. Because of the high COVID-19 infection rates in the U.S., the European Union this week excluded Americans from people who will be able to travel freely to most of Europe.

The issue of limiting capacity on planes gained urgency this week when American Airlines joined United Airlines in trying to fill every seat on every flight. The move was criticized by the government's top expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Other airlines including Delta, Southwest and JetBlue are temporarily leaving one-third or more seats empty to create more space between passengers.

American and United defend their approach of fully booking flights by saying that social distancing is impossible on a plane — even if middle seats are empty, passengers will still be less than six feet apart.