The day after Southwest CEO Gary Kelly suggested at a Senate hearing that wearing
masks on a plane was not necessary, Bastian said he doesn't agree. He said masks would be necessary for the foreseeable future.
"I don't know that I agree with Gary's remarks, particularly as we see Omicron continue to enter into our country," Bastian said in an interview on CNBC. "Masks are going to be important as a safeguard for a while yet."
Kelly and two other airline CEOs -- Doug Parker of American Airlines and Scott Kirby of United -- testified Wednesday about the
financial support that the federal government provided to the US airline industry in 2020 and 2021. But Kelly was asked by the ranking Republican on the committee, Roger Wicker, if he thought that masks were still needed on planes.
"I think the case is very strong that masks don't add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment. It is very safe and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting," said Kelly.
Parker appeared at the hearing to agree with Kelly, saying, "I concur. An aircraft is the safest place you can be. It's true of all of our aircraft — they all have the same HEPA filters and air flow." But after the hearing American Airlines walked back Parker's remarks, saying that his concurrence with Kelly was on the point about the quality of the air in the aircraft cabin, not mask requirements.