The British Airways-Qatar Airways joint business agreement has been extended for five more years and the refreshed deal now includes Spanish airline Iberia.

Acting Transport Minister James Meager at the weekend said the deal should benefit New Zealand travellers and tourists visiting from overseas.

“People will continue to benefit from more convenient flight schedules, better co-ordination when booking and checking in, access to the loyalty programmes of both airlines, and the ability to combine different fare classes,” Meager said.

He said the reauthorised agreement now includes Iberia.

British Airways and Iberia are both part of London-headquartered International Airlines Group.

They and Qatar are part of the oneworld global airline alliance, which includes Qantas and is a rival to Star Alliance, which includes Air New Zealand.

Meager said including Iberia should provide connectivity and capacity between New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and other European destinations.

The joint business agreement has been authorised until May 31, 2030.

Last month, Australia’s competition regulator gave the go-aheadfor Qatar Airways to launch an alliance with Virgin Australia.

New law addresses drones, drug testing

The new Civil Aviation Act took effect on Saturday.

Meager said the act had a better process for authorising airline co-operation agreements.

“Proposed decisions will be published and open for consultation before a final decision is made, ensuring transparency over the whole process,” he said.

“The new act also provides the ability for more on-time performance reporting for airlines and price transparency mechanisms.”

Consumer NZ is urging Meager to push airlines to give flyers more information about their rights under the Civil Aviation Act.

The consumer group said recent amendments to the act gave the minister the power to make regulations requiring aviation industry participants to provide that information.

“We’ve written to the minister and told him we’re concerned airlines are not currently required to tell people about their rights under the CAA.”

In other changes to the law, Meager said as drones continued to develop, changes would enable policies and rules to be updated more quickly, to encourage more innovation and investment.

He also said aviation safety and security would get a boost from random drug and alcohol testing for people involved in safety-sensitive work, and AvSec officers will have clearer powers to keep travellers safe.

In another change, pilots will be able to get licence cancellations or suspensions reviewed by experts.

Previously, pilots had to get an appeal through the District Court, which could be time-consuming and expensive.