The US Department of Transportation has fined Germany’s Lufthansa airline a record $4 million due to discrimination against Jewish passengers, informs the department.

The incident took place in May 2022 during the New York-Budapest flight via Frankfurt. Several passengers during the first flight, as the captain of the plane informed, did not follow the flight crew's instructions regarding wearing a face mask. The airline considered all Jewish passengers a group and refused to land in Frankfurt for the second flight. Most of them were wearing traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing.

Video of the incident at the time showed Lufthansa staff telling passengers that “everyone has to pay” for the mistakes of a few, NBC News reports. At the time, German media reported that staff denied boarding to people they determined were Jewish because they were wearing a yarmulke (a Jewish skull cap) or had sidelocks (known as payot in Hebrew).

Many passengers did not know each other and were not flying together. Lufthansa was later unable to identify any passengers who did not comply with crew members' instructions to wear a face mask and remain seated, the statement said.

This is the largest fine ever to Lufthansa. But before that, the airline had already apologized, saying that it was taking measures to prevent such incidents.

“No one should face discrimination when they travel, and today’s action sends a clear message to the airline industry that we are prepared to investigate and take action whenever passengers’ civil rights are violated,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.