CONFIDENTIAL KUWAIT AIRWAYS 17. Kuwait Airways, whose association this past summer with theAmerican firm of Air Services Inc. (see paragraph 1 of ConfidentialAnnex to Diary No.6) was, if anything, less happy than theirHermes venture with the B.0.A.C. in 1956, terminated theircontract with the American firm on October 31 and were on thepoint of entering into a modest but potentially fruitfularrangement with Jordan International Airlines for the use ofthe latter's DC4. In the event, however, this arrangement wasstillborn; Kuwait Airways, learning that the B.0.A.C. (of whosegood intentions towards them they have doubts) were again toyingwith the idea of entering into an association with Trans-ArabianAirways (an airline in name only, nominally owned by ShaikhDu'eij as-Salman, but likely, if operative, to be effectivelyowned and controlled by, perhaps, Lebanese and, almostcertainly, non-Kuwaiti interests), and mindful that JordanInternational Airways themselves are now in association withArab Airways in which the B.0.A.C. in turn have an interest,professed themselves to be unwilling in these circumstances torisk association with Jordan International Airways and have,for the present, turned again to Air Services Inc. It is quitein the spirit of the rules which apply in the confused jungleof local civil aviation that Kuwait Airways have meanwhilereverted, it is not yet clear how seriously, to the idea of form.ing a partnership with the B.0.A.C. in which the latter wouldhave a sizeable financial interest; much would turn, however, onwhere the effective operative control would rest and it remainsto be seen whether the present tentative negotiations will cometo anything more than similar efforts in the past. INTERNATIONAL AERADIO LIMITED 18. It is gratifying that International Aeradio Limited havefinally formalised the basis of their operations here (seeparagraph 122 of non-confidential section). The essence of thepresent arrangement is that instead of operating here as anentity, they will now (as foreshadowed in paragraph 2 ofConfidential Annex to Diary No.7) supply staff who will beseconded to the State. This arrangement, although perhaps morecumbersome and less satisfactory to International Aeradio, takesaccount of the increasing desire of the Kuwaiti authorities, andparticularly of powerful Shaikhs like Abdullah al-Mubarak, toenjoy an unfettered right to "hire and fire". The personalposition of individual technicians supplied by InternationalAeradio seems, however, to have been adequately protected and,given the goodwill which Shaikh Abdullah al-Mubarak is apparentlyprepared to allow in his dealings with civil aviation matters, thesystem should work well and conform to the spirit of the CivilAviation Agreement. A.S. HALFORD H M. Political Agency,Kuwait.November 20, 1957. CONFIDENTIAL
