“The following information was obtained in course of a recent conversation with Herr Weil, Manager of Junkers Company in Persia. 1. The Company have closed down the Tehran – Meshed service. This line is not part of the original contract with the Persian Government and is not paying under the conditions newly imposed by the Government, chiefly in connection with profits accruing from postage surcharges. The pilot on this line has for some months past been a Persian trained by the Company. The weekly service between Tehran and Bushire via Isfahan and Shiraz has been modified to a single return flight per week. It is not proposed at present to reduce the service between Tehran and Baghdad. The Junkers original five year contract in Persia expires next February and the terms for renewal are now under discussion. The Company are having considerable difficulties with the Persian Government in this connection but there is every prospect that the contract will eventually be renewed. A new type of single engined Junkers monoplane, U52, is being sent out from Dessau in June. This type has a carrying capacity of 3½ tons and a cabin to seat 20 persons. It will be sent to Persia but is primarily intended for service in Iraq. 2. There are no new developments in the Persian Air Force. The Company continue to have trouble in the matter of establishing a flying school in Tehran. This was in the terms of their contract with the Persian Government, definitely a school for civil pilots, but the military authorities insisted in interfering and creating difficulties with the result that the school had not yet been established. The Chief of Staff had approached the Company with a proposal that they should train 60 pilots annually, for military service, on a five year contract. This suggestion was not taken very seriously as it was difficult to believe that the Persian Government really required to turn out 300 trained pilots in five years. It appears that the demonstration of foreign aircraft, about which so much was heard last year, is not after all, to be held this spring. The Soviet wished to send a flight to Tehran this month but were informed that they should not do so unless they could demonstrate a new type of aircraft. 3. Mr. Weil is freely consulted by the Persian Government regarding air matters. On the question of Imperial Airways route across Persia he expressed the view, to the Minister of Court and others, that the most difficult route possible had been selected. If this was the only alternative the Government might just as well forbid Imperial Airways to fly in Persia at all. He warned them that a 4 engined aircraft is now available which can fly non-stop from Basra to Karachi. This could fly 5 miles from the Persian coast at a height sufficient to make the land in case of emergency. It is international custom that in case of a forced landing, the aircraft must receive certain facilities. So he warned the Persian officials that for fear of a complete boycott it would be inadvisable to insist on such a difficult route. The Junkers Company in Persia have been asked to grant facilities to two members of the staff of Imperial Airways for the purpose of surveying a central flying route across Persia. 4. The negotiations for the extension of the present Junkers air service in Persia to Kabul are still continuing. The Afghan Government approve of an air service in principle but up to the present are not prepared to grant Junkers Company the minimum guarantee required. The Company are purposely not asking for a subsidy but require a guarantee of a minimum income until the service is well established. Should the Afghan Government he unable to grant a monetary guarantee, the Company is prepared to take, in lieu, some form of concession such as lamb skins which they can sub-let to a German firm in Kabul. Mr. Weil points out that the Afghan Government require a regular air service and stipulates that a thoroughly efficient workshop for complete overhaul of aircraft must be established in Kabul, but are not ready to contribute anything towards the heavy expenses involved.
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