810.79611 Pan American Airways/880

The Secretary of State to the Chief of the Foreign Department, Pan American Airways, Inc. (Young)

Sir: Reference is made to the Department’s letter of August 26, 193054 and previous correspondence regarding the temporary permission under which the planes of the Pan American Airways, Incorporated operate through French territorial possessions in the Caribbean and South America.

I now transmit herewith, for your information and comments, a copy of despatch No. 823 of September 3rd from the American Embassy at Paris together with its enclosures, a copy of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ note to the American Embassy and a translation thereof, confirming the extension of this permission until November 15th and setting forth the conditions pertaining thereto.55

As you know, application for renewal of this permission must be made of the French Government thirty days in advance of its expiration date. Therefore, please confirm this Department’s understanding that your Company wishes the American Embassy at Paris to apply for a renewal on or before October 15th in order that the Embassy may be appropriately instructed.

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In view of the information contained in a letter of August 21st from Mr. Trippe that Pan American Airways, Incorporated, has taken over the assets of the New York, Rio and Buenos Aires Lines, Incorporated, as of September 15th, it is assumed that this application for an extension of the French Government’s permission need only to be made on behalf of one company, the Pan American Airways, Incorporated. Please inform the Department if this assumption is correct.

In closing, I wish to call your attention particularly to the last paragraph of the despatch enclosed herewith which intimates there may be difficulty encountered in obtaining the French Government’s renewal of the permission after November 15th unless by then there exists some understanding between your Company and the Compagnie Générale Aéropostale. I shall therefore appreciate learning what the wishes of your Company would be in the event that the renewal of permission by the French Government was refused in order that the Embassy at Paris may be fully instructed in these premises.

Very truly yours,

For the Secretary of State:
Francis White

Assistant Secretary
  1. Not printed.
  2. Supra.