Cathay Pacific fined for illegally flying passenger to New Zealand

Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has been fined in a New Zealand court for allowing an unauthorized passenger to board a flight to New Zealand, the government immigration agency said Wednesday.

Cathay Pacific was convicted and fined a total of 6,500 NZ dollars (4,365 U.S. dollars) for failing to comply with its legal obligation to obtain approval for the unnamed passenger from Immigration New Zealand (INZ).

Cathay Pacific failed to provide INZ with any information on a Bahraini passenger before allowing him to travel to Auckland from the Qatar capital, Doha, via Hong Kong, in July last year, said a statement from INZ.

The passenger had a pre-existing alert recorded against him after he was denied boarding on a previous flight from Bangkok in June last year, the Manukau District Court heard.

If Cathay Pacific had provided INZ with the passenger's details, it would have been told not to board him.

The passenger had since left New Zealand.

INZ assistant general manager Peter Devoy said in the statement that it was the second time Cathay Pacific had been prosecuted for not meeting its requirements under the Immigration Act.

Under the Act, the maximum sentence for the offense is a term of imprisonment of up to three months, a fine of up to 50,000 NZ dollars (33,575 U.S. dollars), or both. Endi