Germany: Lufthansa Apologizes to Jewish Passengers

The German airline company, Lufthansa, has apologized to a group of Orthodox Jewish passengers who were refused a connecting flight from Frankfurt to Budapest last Wednesday (May 4). This followed an incident onboard a New York-Frankfurt flight where some of the above passengers had refused to wear Covid masks per the request of the flight crew. Upon arrival at Frankfurt, it appears all of the above group was refused onward passage to Budapest as opposed to just the ones who refused to wear masks on the earlier flight.

This is an especially sensitive issue given Germany’s history with the Third Reich and the Holocaust. The matter has been extensively reported in the international press including the American press. I thought it was important to see how the German press is handling the news. The below article from Die Welt is translated by Fousesquawk and appears consistent with other media reports in Germany. 

 https://www.welt.de/regionales/hessen/article238701297/Lufthansa-Chef-entschuldigt-sich-bei-Juedischer-Gemeinde.html?icid=search.product.onsitesearch

Lufthansa head apologizes to Jewish community

May 11, 2022

After the exclusion of a Jewish tour group from a flight to Budapest, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr apologized to a representative of the Jewish community in Berlin on Wednesday. That was reported by Lufthansa in Frankfurt in the evening. In an internal event, Spohr also said this about the incidents: “Anti-Semitism has no place at Lufthansa. The procedure last Wednesday should not have happened and must be fully clarified.” 

Lufthansa had already apologized Tuesday in a written statement for refusing a group of Orthodox Jews on a connecting flight from Frankfurt to Budapest last week. “Lufthansa expressly apologizes to the guests,” the airline company said in a tweet. Hesse’s Anti-Semitism official, Uwe Becker, had asked the company’s leadership to take a stand.   

The incident took place last Wednesday (May 4) at Frankfurt am Main. It was preceded by the repeated refusal of some passengers on the flight from New York to Frankfurt, even after requests by the crew, to wear masks for protection against Coronavirus infection, Lufthansa explained. They regretted, “that the larger group was not allowed to travel on rather than limiting this decision to single individuals.”