The TSA is extending the federal mask mandate for travelers on public transport to January 18
Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo
- The TSA will extend the federal mask mandate to January 18, a spokesperson told Insider.
- Airlines were notified of the extension on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
- The mandate had previously been extended through September 13.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) federal mask mandate for travelers will be extended to January 18.
"TSA will extend the directives through January 18, 2022," a TSA spokesperson said via email. "The purpose of TSA's mask directive is to minimize the spread of COVID-19 on public transportation."
Officials from the TSA and CDC told airlines about the extension on a conference call on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
On January 22, President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring travelers to wear masks. The TSA's mandate went into place February 2, with an original expiration date of May 11. It had been extended into September.
The mandate requires travelers on planes, buses, and other forms of public transport to cover their faces. Airlines have their own mask requirements.
The mandate has attracted its share of critics, including a group of lawmakers led by Senator Ted Cruz. That group introduced a bill in June that sought to end the mandate for vaccinated travelers, Cruz said
A frequent flyer from Washington, DC, Lucas Wall, has also sued seven airlines and the federal government over the mandates. Wall argued the masks were unconstitutional.
A group of federal lawyers last week filed a lengthy response, which appeared to be the first time Biden's administration laid out a legal defense of the mandate.
"For those who seek to use our nation's public-transportation systems during a global pandemic, Congress has entrusted those judgments to the medical experts at the CDC - not to Mr. Wall, and, respectfully, not to the courts," the government lawyers wrote.
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