711.4127/11–1845
The British Ambassador (Halifax) to the Secretary of State
Aide-Mémoire
North Atlantic Air Services
- 1.
- His Majesty’s Ambassador presents his compliments to the Secretary of State and, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, has the honour to propose that an Interim Agreement between His Majesty’s Government and the United States Government on the subject of North Atlantic commercial air services should be drawn up through an Exchange of Notes.
- 2.
- His Majesty’s Government propose that arrangements made under this Exchange of Notes should cover a period of not more than one year from the date of effect and should be terminable by either Party at any time on giving six months notice to the other Party. The formal bilateral Agreement, when concluded, would take the place of this Interim Agreement.
- 3.
- His Majesty’s Government propose that the Interim Agreement should be in the following terms:—
Article I
United States air carriers should be authorised to operate a load capacity of up to a total of 500 seats per week in each direction. Any aircraft operated solely or primarily for transport of cargo should be subject to a separate agreement.
Article II
British North Atlantic air carriers should be authorised to operate in return a capacity equal to that of United States carriers.
Article III
The 1937 Agreement should remain in effect. But any capacity operated thereunder should be included in the above allocated capacity of up to 500 seats per week to carriers of each Nation.
Article IV
Operation into the United Kingdom shall be permitted only at the rate approved by His Majesty’s Government provided that operations at the rate from time to time agreed by the International Air Transport Association20 shall be regarded as satisfying this requirement.
[Page 229]Article V
Should carriers operating under the 1937 Agreement not conform with rates laid down by the International Air Transport Association, those carriers would be limited to capacity represented by frequencies prescribed in that Agreement.
Article VI
His Majesty’s Government give assurance that fares charged by British carriers will not be less than those agreed by the International Air Transport Association.
Article VII
His Majesty’s Government agree that United States air carriers may, by agreement between Governments, operate such capacity as is required to carry traffic offering in addition to 500 seats mentioned in Article I, provided that when British air carriers are ready to take up a share of that capacity, any adjustment then found necessary will be made in the capacity operated by the United States carriers in order to bring the capacity and the traffic offering on the route into equilibrium on the basis of an agreed load factor and in order to ensure the division of capacity between the United States and the United Kingdom carriers in accordance with the traffic embarked principle.
Article VIII
Notwithstanding the above, the United States carriers may in agreement with the United Kingdom air carriers increase their capacity to meet sudden traffic demands. But such increase of capacity will be subject to confirmation or modification by His Majesty’s Government.
Article IX
Provision for American services to operate Fifth Freedom21 traffic beyond the United Kingdom should form the subject of a separate agreement.
- The International Air Transport Association was a voluntary organization, established as a result of a meeting at Havana in April 1945 of representatives from the airlines systems. Its purpose was to provide for consultation concerning and unofficial regulation of certain aspects of international air travel. It held its conference for the year 1945 in Montreal, October 15–18.↩
- The Fifth Freedom involved the right to land or take on passengers, cargo, and mail in an intermediate country while en route from the country of origin to the country Of ultimate destination. For text, see Proceedings of the International Civil Aviation Conference, Chicago, 111., November 1–December 7, 1944, Department of State publication No. 2820 (2 vols.; Washington, Government Printing Office, 1948–49), vol. i, p. 179. For documentation on the Chicago Conference, see Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. ii, pp. 355 ff.↩