Alaska Airlines and United Airlines on Monday moved to make masks optional following a federal court decision over masking on Monday.
“Due to a judicial decision in our federal court system, the mask mandate has been overturned, which means our guests and employees have the option to wear a mask while traveling in the U.S. and at work,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement.
United Airlines also announced that “effective immediately, masks are no longer required” on domestic flights and “select international flights” or at U.S. airports, according to a memo to employees obtained by multiple outlets.
The Hill has reached out to United Airlines for comment.
“It has been a long 24 months with nearly constant change. I could not be prouder of our frontline employees who have handled every pivot focusing on safety and the care we’re known for,” Max Tidwell, Alaska Airlines’s vice president of safety and security, said in a statement.
The decision came after Florida Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mask mandate for travel on planes, trains and buses.
The government had argued for a broader definition of the word “sanitation,” including preventing disease, but she decided the word was “limited to cleaning measures.”
“Wearing a mask cleans nothing,” the appointee of former President Trump wrote.
“Great to see a federal judge in Florida follow the law and reject the Biden transportation mask mandate. Both airline employees and passengers deserve to have this misery end,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in a tweet of the decision.
Though the mask mandate will no longer be enforced the CDC still “recommends that people continue to wear masks in indoor public transportation settings.”
