NEW YORK • A Hong Kong-based airline has apologised for requiring a passenger to take a pregnancy test before a flight last November to Saipan, a US territory in the Western Pacific that is a popular destination for so-called birth tourism.

The carrier, Hong Kong Express Airways, said in an e-mailed statement this week that it had stopped administering pregnancy tests after re-evaluating the contentious practice.

The apology came a little more than two months after the passenger, Ms Midori Nishida, blogged about her experience on a Nov 9 flight from Hong Kong International Airport to Saipan, which is in the Northern Mariana Islands. The commonwealth has become a magnet for expectant Chinese mothers because babies born on the island are eligible for United States citizenship.

"We would like to apologise unreservedly to anyone who has been affected by this," the airline said.

Ms Nishida, 25, a Tokyo resident, was raised on Saipan and was visiting her parents when the episode occurred, she wrote in a blog post on the website of The Saipan Tribune newspaper.

"Despite being a frequent flyer to Saipan, none of my previous experience would have prepared me for what happened during my most recent flight: Take a pregnancy test or be denied boarding," she wrote.

The airline, which Cathay Pacific bought in July, said the pregnancy test requirement arose early last year. "In response to concerns raised by authorities in Saipan, we took actions on flights to Saipan from February 2019 to help ensure US immigration laws were not being undermined," the airline said.

"We have immediately suspended the practice while we review it," it added.

NYTIMES