IOR/L/PS/10/1205

This volume contains correspondence, memoranda, surveys, reports, telegrams, extracts, and minutes regarding a proposed route over the Arabian coast, as part of an air route to India. The papers notably cover the following:

• Discussion with the Government of Persia [Iran] on the use of the south Persian coast for British flights
• Preparation by Imperial Airways for flights to India passing over the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Coast
• Negotiations between the Persian Government and Imperial Airways regarding an agreement (and later a renewal of that agreement) on the use of air routes over Persia
• The possibility of establishing an air route from Basra to Karachi along the south-western side of the Persian Gulf, as an alternative to the present course, which involves flying over and landing in Persian territory
• Proposed locations for landing grounds
• Discussions with the Persian Government regarding a Cairo-Karachi air route
• Flights to Basra via Koweit [Kuwait] as a refuelling base
• A geographical reconnaissance along the Trucial Coast
• The establishment of aerodromes and the undertaking of air and land surveys
• The question of whether Ibn Saud’s [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd’s] territories could be used as air routes
• Discussion of alternative air routes over central Persia, south Persia, and north Arabia
• A lease obtained by Imperial Airways concerning landing grounds at Gwadur [Gwadar]
• A proposal for the establishment of a refuelling base on Yas Island [Sir Bani Yas Island].

The papers also contain the following documents:

• ‘Map Showing (A) Air Routes, Established And Projected, (B) Islands In The Persian Gulf (C) Boundaries Of Kuwait And The Trucial Area’ (f 158)
• A sketch map indicating a route from Failaka [an island off the coast of Kuwait] to Gwadur, as recommended by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (f 428).

The principal correspondents are as follows: the Under-Secretary of State for India; the Air Council; the Air Ministry; the Acting High Commissioner for Iraq; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Colonial Office; and the British Agency, Jeddah.