German airline Lufthansa has apologised for refusing to let a large group of orthodox Jewish passengers board a flight after some of them had refused to wear masks. The firm insisted it had a 'zero tolerance' for racism and said it was reviewing the incident.
In a statement, Lufthansa said it “regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude the affected passengers from the flight." It went on to say it "sincerely apologises” for what happened..
The airline said it was reviewing what had gone on during the incident on May 4 involving passengers from New York transiting in Frankfurt for a flight to Budapest. Some of the passengers had allegedly refused to comply with rules requiring them to wear face masks.
It is understood Lufthansa staff then blocked all passengers who visibly belonged to the group from boarding their connecting flight, according to German daily Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung.
The airline said: "We regret that the large group was denied boarding rather than limiting it to the non-compliant guests." It added: “We have zero tolerance for racism, antisemitism and discrimination of any type."
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