A CHINESE national was fined $1,000 on Tuesday for smoking on board a budget airline toilet.

Zhou Xinchang, 29, a vegetable seller, pleaded guilty to smoking on board a Tiger Airways flight enroute from Macau to Singapore on Monday morning.

A magistrate's court heard that a cabin crew member was at the rear galley of the aircraft when she was alerted by the smoke detector alarm.

On checking, Ms Ee Pei Ling found that the alarm was activated at one of the lavatories.

She then saw Zhou coming out from the toilet which had a strong smell of cigarettes.

He admitted that he had smoked and apologised to Ms Ee. By then, he had thrown the cigarette butt into the toilet bowl and flushed it away.

The captain was informed and he in turn told the ground staff.

Zhou told Airport police that this was the first time he had taken a flight, and he did not know that he could not smoke on board the plane.

A pack containing three sticks of cigarettes and a lighter were seized from him.

Under the Air Navigation Order, he could have been fined up to $5,000 or jailed for up to one year or both.