Fines for not wearing masks coming soon

Mask up at the airport, in the bus terminals and on the PATH — or expect a $50 fine, the Port Authority said Thursday.

The agency will begin Monday to impose the fines on those who refuse to wear masks at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports, on the PATH trains that link Manhattan to New Jersey, and at the Port Authority’s bus terminals in Midtown and Washington Heights.

The move aims to give teeth to mask requirements imposed by gubernatorial executive orders in New York and New Jersey — and comes as the city’s rate of COVID-19 infections per tests increased to nearly 2%, a benchmark Mayor de Blasio on Thursday said could trigger business closures and more restrictions on gatherings.

“We have seen very high percentage of compliance with the mask requirement,” said Port Authority executive director Rick Cotton.

“By making individuals not wearing masks subject to a $50 fine, we are emphasizing the criticality of the mask mandate,” he said.

The Port Authority will enforce the fines in areas where its police department has jurisdiction. That includes the three airports except the “sterile zone” managed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Cotton said.

Several airlines over the last seven months have moved to ban passengers who refuse to wear masks during flights. And while Cotton asserts mask compliance has been well over 90% at LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports, defiant flyers who decline to mask up in terminals have so far not faced any fines.

Air travel at the three airports in September remained dismal with passenger volumes down roughly 87% from the same month of 2019, Port Authority data shows.