The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation heard testimony from CEOs of the major airlines. CEOs of American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, and Delta Airlines chief of operations were called up to the Hill primarily about the $54 billion bailout the industry received during the pandemic.

However, the CEOs let the cat out of the bag on the actual efficacy of mask wearing while in flight.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly told U.S. senators Wednesday that the air in airplane cabins is clean enough that face masks don’t provide significant additional protection to passengers from COVID-19.

“I think the case is very strong that masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin,” said Kelly, who runs Dallas-based Southwest. “The environment is very safe, very high quality compared to any other indoor setting.”

So, why continue with this mask theater? The only proven statistics that have come from this policy are the increase in fights that have broken out over mask non-compliance, and the number of injuries to flight personnel and passengers due to these brawls. According to FAA reports, 4,072 out of 5,664 reports were mask-incident related.

Obviously there’s a problem here, and it has little to do with the virus.

Amazingly enough, American Airlines CEO agreed with Southwest CEO Kelly. Then rushed to “clarify.”

“I concur,” said Doug Parker, CEO of Fort Worth-based American Airlines. “The aircraft is the safest place you can be. That’s true of all of our aircraft.”

American later clarified that Parker’s remarks were intended to agree with “the comments made by other witnesses about the high quality of aircraft cabin air, and did not intend to cast doubt on the necessity of face masks on planes,” spokeswoman Stacy Day said.

Awkward.

Dementia Joe is pushing for a permanent mask mandate across all interstate transportation. Not only is he obsessed with choo-choos, but controlling how people ride public transportation.

Kelly’s face mask comments contradicted efforts by the Biden administration to require them on airplanes, in airports and on other forms of interstate transportation, such as buses and trains.

So, if the airlines contradict the agenda, and potentially look for a way to either soften the mask requirement, or ditch it altogether, the pandemic symbol of compliance is officially dead.

President Joe Biden made airplane mask mandates among his first executive orders when he took office in January and has since renewed the mask mandate through March 18, 2022.

Airlines have been requiring masks on airplanes since the summer of 2020 and then subsequently partnered with the Department of Defense and research universities such as Harvard to show that HEPA filtration systems on airplanes make it difficult for coronavirus to spread among passengers.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was absolutely glowing about the HEPA filtration system in aircraft, and how it even rivaled the air quality in a hospital ICU units. The HEPA filtration in an aircraft cycles air 20 to 30 times an hour, while the air circulation in a hospital is two to three times an hour. The studies presented by the airlines also showed that the floor to ceiling air flows in cabins helps to reduce the risk of spread among the passengers of COVID-19.

Technology appears to be doing the work of mitigating the risk of COVID spread, while removing the need for the additional step of masks. Their use is mere symbolism, but, it will be a long time before anyone gives up that control.