American Airlines has welcomed the United States department of transportation’s final approval of a joint business agreement with Qantas.

American and the Australian flag-carrier now have the opportunity to jointly offer more products that will better serve customers flying between the United States and Australia and New Zealand.

This has been a longstanding business objective of the partnership.

“We look forward to working closely with our valued partner, Qantas, on this new joint business,” said American chief executive, Doug Parker.

“We now have the opportunity to launch new routes and provide enhanced service with better schedules, additional frequent flyer benefits and continued investments in the overall customer experience.

“We are grateful to secretary Chao and the department of transportation team, as we welcome this fantastic news for our customers and team members.”

Final approval follows the department’s tentative approval of the joint business in June.