German airline Lufthansa has issued an apology for not letting a lot of Orthodox Jewish passengers onboard a connecting flight at Frankfurt airport after some people refused to put on masks.
In a press release launched on Tuesday, the airline stated it “regrets the circumstances surrounding the choice to exclude the affected passengers from the flight,” including that it “sincerely apologises”.
The corporate additionally stated it was “reviewing details and circumstances” of the incident that occurred on 4 Could, when some Jewish passengers boarded their flight and have been denied entry.
The group of individuals – not linked to one another – boarded a flight from New York to Frankfurt, aspiring to take a connecting flight to Budapest to attend an annual memorial at a close-by village commemorating a rabbi.
A number of individuals, nevertheless, allegedly refused to adjust to the principles requiring them to put on face masks.
Lufthansa responded by allegedly cancelling the boarding passes of over 100 individuals – most of whom wore Jewish Orthodox clothes or had Jewish sounding names.
“We remorse that the massive group was denied boarding reasonably than limiting it to the non-compliant friends,” the airline stated within the assertion.
“Now we have zero tolerance for racism, antisemitism and discrimination of any kind,” it added.
A video recorded on the airport confirmed a Lufthansa consultant telling a passenger who was not allowed to board that they have been banned as a result of it was Jewish individuals boarding from New York who have been “the issue”.
The passenger could be heard saying he was “shocked” that this occurred in 2022 “in a western nation”.
The incident led to widespread criticism of the airline and allegations of antisemitism from a member of the German parliament who referred to as for an investigation.
“Excluding Jews from a flight as a result of they have been recognisable as Jewish is a scandal. I count on German corporations specifically to pay attention to antisemitism,” Marlene Schoenberger, a member of the German Greens occasion, wrote in a tweet within the German language.
German Regulation requires passengers to put on medical or FFP2 masks to journey and, whereas a number of stories stated a number of passengers didn’t adjust to the principles, passengers instructed German media shops nearly everybody else was carrying masks.
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