Airlines ask Biden to end mask requirements for planes and airports.

The chief executives of the nation's largest airlines asked the president to allow a federal mask mandate to expire next month.

The group asked the government to drop the requirement for visitors from abroad to have a negative coronaviruses test before traveling to the United States.

The chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and several other passenger and cargo airlines are the most compelling indicators that our country is well protected against severe disease from Covid-19.

We support your view that Covid-19 need no longer control our lives because we have entered a different phase of dealing with the virus.

The letter is the first time that the industry has come together against the mask mandate. Gary Kelly, the chief executive of Southwest Airlines, questioned the effectiveness of masks on planes at a congressional hearing in December. Ed Bastian, Delta's chief executive, told CNBC that masks are going to be important as a safeguard for a while.

The executives joined a growing chorus of Americans, politicians and business leaders calling for an end to such mandates. Hawaii became the 50th and final state to drop its indoor mask requirement.