New signage at the drop-off section outside Dunedin Airport in New Zealand coldly states: “Max hug time 3 minutes. For fonder farewells please use the car park.”

There has been a mixed response to the new rule, with the airport being inundated with social media posts calling it “inhumane” among other pejoratives, The Guardian reports.

Dan De Bono, chief executive of Dunedin Airport, said: “We’re trying to have fun with it. It is an airport and those drop-off locations are common locations for farewells.”

He added: “There’s no space left for others [when people take too long]. It’s about enabling others to have hugs.”