More security for Middle East flights?
New Zealand is considering additional security checks on flights from Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East, its transport minister said yesterday.
The new rules would follow similar measures introduced last month by the United States, Britain and Australia.
New Zealand’s civil aviation authority “is assessing the evidence to determine what is appropriate,” transport minister Simon Bridges told Reuters in an interview in Dubai.
Additional security measures would affect passengers flying from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Doha, Qatar, where carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways, respectively, fly direct to New Zealand.
Bridges said a decision to add new checks would be made independent of the government by the aviation authority .
He declined to say when a decision could be made. He did not say what measures were being considered.
