Two airlines have been fined for allowing passengers to fly into the country without prior approval from Immigration New Zealand.
At Manukau District Court, LAN Airlines was convicted and fined $9000 for two offences and Cathay Pacific Airways convicted and fined $5250 for one offence.
Both were guilty of failing to comply with their obligations under the Immigration Act 2009.
Inbound travellers need to be cleared through a system called Advance Passenger Processing, which sends an automatic message if a passenger is allowed through the border.
In the case of LAN Airlines, a check-in attendant at Santiago airport in Chile entered an expired passport number for a Brazilian national in December last year. The passenger subsequently flew to Auckland.
