The U.S. Transportation Department on Tuesday fined Germany-based airline Lufthansa $4 million for violating the rights of 128 Jewish passengers who were traveling from New York City to Frankfurt and Budapest.

The United States has fined German airline Lufthansa $4 million for its treatment of a group of Jewish passengers who were denied boarding a 2022 flight in Frankfurt after they had flown to Germany from New York.

The passengers were travelling from New York to Hungary to attend an event honoring an Orthodox Jewish rabbi.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has imposed a record $4 million penalty on Lufthansa after the airline barred Jewish passengers from a May 2022 flight due to alleged non-compliance with mask mandates.

German airline staff allegedly prohibited 128 Orthodox Jews from boarding a flight because half of them had been refusing to wear face masks during the pandemic.