IOR/R/15/2/742

The file comprises copies of correspondence and papers relating to requests for priority air passages, chiefly from Bahrain to Cairo, or from Karachi to Bahrain, which were received, processed and authorised through the Political Agency at Bahrain. The largest proportion of the file covers the period April 1945 through November 1945; a product of the large numbers of air priority requests received, chiefly from British subjects wishing to return home for leave, in response the end of war in Europe.

The file includes:

• papers containing policy and instruction on the booking and prioritisation policy of air passages, including: a list of grades of priority for air passage, issued by PAIFORCE (Persia and Iraq Force), 10 May 1945 (f 120); a completed application form for air passage (f 132); a notice on the application of civilian air passages, issued by the Air Priorities Board, India (ARBI), dated 14 June 1945 (f 185); ARBI forms and enclosures (ff 192-195); a press note explaining the procedures for obtaining passages to the United Kingdom, with forms, list of priority categories, instructions for completion of forms (ff 201-206);
• correspondence related to the formation and operations of the Bahrain Air Priorities Sub-Committee;
• applications from individuals (including employees of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), Government of Bahrain, Eastern Bank Limited, and Petroleum Concessions Limited (PCL)) for priority air passage, frequently on urgent medical or compassionate grounds, or on grounds of leave not having been granted for a considerable time;
• correspondence relating to the repatriation of large numbers of BAPCO employees, who require initial air passage from Bahrain to Cairo;
• arrangements in January 1945 for the air passage of Shaikh Abdullah [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah] and his family from Cairo to Bahrain (ff 38-47, ff 54-56);
• at the end of the file, numerous notifications to individuals of the granting of air priority passage (ff 249-252, ff 254-260).