711.90F27/7–1445
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Saudi Arabia ( Eddy )
Sir: With reference to the Legation’s telegram 267 of July 14, 1945, there are transmitted herewith two copies of a draft bilateral civil [Page 937] air transport agreement75 between this Government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This draft agreement is virtually identical with the proposals submitted by this Government to other governments in the Near East and elsewhere.
The Department’s circular telegram of July 5, 194576 described the routes certificated by the Civil Aeronautics Board for the appropriate United States airlines. In the case of Saudi Arabia, it is contemplated that Transcontinental and Western Air will proceed from Cairo to a point in Palestine, thence to Basra, Dhahran, and beyond to Bombay. The certificate granted to Transcontinental and Western Air permits this company, after further approval of the Civil Aeronautics Board, to make changes in its route pattern for the general area served. It is therefore possible that at some future time TWA might wish to enter Dhahran from another direction, but this is a matter which can be discussed subsequently under the terms of Article 8 of the proposed agreement, and need not be mentioned at this time.
As will be seen from the attached draft, reciprocal landing rights are granted by the two Governments, rather than granted to an airline itself.
For your information, a number of the Near Eastern countries have proposed certain restrictions on the so-called Fifth Freedom77 traffic, with the object of curtailing or prohibiting carriage of traffic by United States airlines between two countries in the same area, for example, between Lebanon and Iraq. This Government so far has not accepted these counter-proposals, but is willing to consult with the governments concerned in accordance with the terms of Article 8 of the agreement, with a view to making an equitable adjustment of traffic in the event that U.S. airlines unduly prejudice the operations of local or regional services. In other words, should a Saudi airline be established at a later date to operate services to nearby countries, and should the Saudi Government be apprehensive of possible competition from the American airline on routes to nearby countries, this Government would prefer to deal with such problems as they arise, rather than incorporating arbitrary restrictions in the bilateral agreement before it is known how the traffic will develop.
It will be noted that the preamble of the draft agreement contains a reference to the International Civil Aviation Conference at Chicago,78 to which Saudi Arabia did not send a delegation. The [Page 938] draft agreement forwarded herewith is substantially similar to the so-called “standard form”79 drawn up at Chicago. However, if the Saudi Government prefers to omit reference to this Conference the preamble may be shortened to read: “Having in mind the desirability of mutually stimulating and promoting the sound economic development of air transportation between the United States of America and Saudi Arabia, the two Governments parties to this agreement agree that the development of air transport services between their respective territories shall be governed by the following provisions:”. At the same time the Department would prefer to see Article 7 remain as is since this Government is obligated to register all of its air transport agreements with the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization resulting from the Chicago Conference.
A copy of the draft agreement is being sent to the Legation at Cairo,80 for the information of the Civil Air Attaché.
Very truly yours,
- Not printed.↩
- Vol. ii, p. 1460.↩
- The right to pick up and discharge traffic at intermediate points along a designated trunk route.↩
- Held November 1–Decemher 7, 1944; for documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. ii, pp. 355 ff.↩
- For text of the standard Form for Provisional Air Routes, see Department of State, Proceedings of the International Civil Aviation Conference…, vol. i, pp. 127–129.↩
- In instruction 1363, August 1, not printed.↩