THE PERSIAN AIR MAIL

Although the main outlines of the contract between the Persian Government and Junkers were approved by Parliament on 9 February 1926, the rest of that year was spent in haggling about details of the agreements to be made with the Departments concerned. That is, with the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs concerning the rate of surcharge to be levied on postal matter; and with the Ministry of War regarding the use of aerodromes, the amount of material to be provided free by Junkers for the Aviation School, and the number of pupils to be trained yearly. During the summer months Junkers did not press very vigorously for a settlement of these points - their own future was uncertain - but since the improvement in their financial position following on the surrender by the German Government of their shares, and the abolition of Government control, the Junkers representative was eager to reach agreement and to begin operation of the Teheran-Pahlevi service. During 1926 Junkers carried out no regular flights and maintained usually one (occasionally a second) machine in Persia. “I communicated to my Government the text, as published in the press, of the Bill approved by Parliament granting certain concessions in aviation to the Junkers Company in Persia. I am now directed to call the attention of the Persian Government to the first clause of this Bill, which, in the version of the text in my possession, might be interpreted as conceding to the Junkers Company the sole right of flight along certain routes. I presume that the “monopoly of aviation” ceded to the Junkers Company does not entail the prohibition of flight by aircraft of other nationalities along the routes specified, and my Government would be glad to learn from the Imperial Government that this assumption is correct. It will certainly not have escaped the notice of the Imperial Persian authorities that the clause would otherwise be incompatible with the obligations accepted by Persia under the International Convention for Aerial Navigation."

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