(Collection of pocket knives/Wikimedia Commons)

The policy change would have gone into effect on Thursday, but TSA chief John Pistole said he decided to maintain, at least temporarily, a post-9/11 ban on knives after meeting with an aviation security panel, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Though in a letter to employees, Pistole defended the idea to loosen the restrictions, citing the Boston Marathon bombing as an example of how the TSA should focus on more series threats, like bombs and other explosives.

Pistole announced the policy change last month and was met with fierce opposition from flight attendants, airline executives and lawmakers. Families of 9/11 survivors also asked the chief to reconsider.

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The new policy would have allowed passengers to carry folding knives with blades 2.36 inches or shorter, pool cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks, golf clubs and baseball bats.

In a recent survey of close to 2,000 Americans, 73 percent said they did not want knives on airplanes, according to the L.A. Times.

"The United States has banned all knives from commercial flights since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for good reason: Knives were the terrorists' weapons of choice in bringing down four jetliners and murdering thousands of Americans,"a group of flight attendants said in a statement.

The TSA did not give a new date for the policy to take effect, though CNN reported that there has been a gradual easing of small knife prohibitions in recent years as airlines have switched their security focus to bomb threats.

Reach Editor at Large Brianna Sacks here