PZ 5636/35 'Egypt: Annual Reports 1934 -1938' [‎56r] (118/342)

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Pash? 2 th P fT,? nW A 1 ' 6 ’ C T 6 t0 Ca ; iro in March to sound Talaat Harb
Faslia, the president of Misr Airwork, as to his willingness to accept some form
Harh S Wlth Impenal Ai ; wa y s - The Vlslt was I10t a ^ckss TaS
„ omp b hf t ; a r r m a su spicious frame of mmd, and evidently apprehensive of
"ZLrn M S ^ em f Whlch mig 1 ht result in Im P^ial Airways swamping his
A P 1 J- Muntz came to the conclusion that it was impossible to secure
his agreement to anything m the nature of financial participation of Imperial
irways m Misr Airwork Talaat Harb Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , however, appeared to realise
e advantages of practical collaboration between Imperial Airways and Misr
irwork and Mr. Muntz returned to England to see whether anything on these
imes could be arranged. Ihe then Minister of Communications, Nokrashy Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. ,
subsequently had a frank discussion with Talaat Harb Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. on the lines that
Misr Airwork was bound sooner or later to be frozen out if it did not get in with
some big organisation like Imperial Airways; that all civil lines had a potential
military value; and that this was an additional reason for Anglo-Egyptian
co-operation. Nokrashy Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. derived the same impression as Mr. Muntz,
namely, that Talaat Harb Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was willing to work with Imperial Airways but
not to be financed by them. Various suggestions by the Director-General of Civil
Aviation as to the form which practical, as opposed to financial, collaboration
might take were submitted to the Foreign Office by the Embassy.
223. Throughout April and May matters drifted. It was understood that
Mr. Muntz was having discussions with Imperial Airways in London, but so
far as could be gathered in Cairo these discussions were not very hopeful, and
appeared in any case to be more concerned with the idea of an Egypt-Europe
service than with the development of a short haul area round Egypt for the
purpose of keeping out other foreign lines. No progress seemed likely for some
time to come, and meanwhile one important fact emerged, namely, that Airwork
Heston had decided not to increase their holding in Misr Airwork beyond the
existing 10 per cent. This was serious in view of developments in Egypt. The
Germans continued to be active. Not only did the German Legation keep up
pressure on the Egyptian Government to grant facilities for a German service,
but a representative of Lufthansa came to Cairo and discussed direct with Misr
Airwork the possibility of some pooling arrangement. The Germans had pre
viously made a great propaganda effort by spectacular participation in the
Egyptian Oasis Rally in March, and Germany was clearly prepared to sell air
craft at almost any price in order to get an interest in Misr Airwork. The only
obstacle in fact was the agreement between the Banque Misr and Airwork Heston,
and though Talaat Harb Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. showed no signs of wishing to break away from
this, it was disquieting that the vice-president of the company was Taher Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. ,
known for his German connexions and sympathies, and that the managing
director, Kemal Eloui Bey, seemed somewhat impatient of the British connexion
and imbued, temporarily at all events, with the idea of the total Egyptianisation
of the company. Kemal Eloui Bey was at that time working out a project for an
Egypt-Europe service, in connexion with which he was later sent by his board to
visit Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of
America to report on types of machines and on ground organisation. Apart from
the question whether Misr Airwork could ever run a service of the type projected
unaided by the experience of some foreign organisation, it was clear that further
increases of capital would be involved which might have the result of reducing
the British holding below the 10 per cent, necessary to maintain a single British
director on the board. The only encouraging feature was that Misr Airwork
applied to the Ministry of Communications to protect them from foreign compe
tition by rejecting applications from foreign lines for an Egypt-Europe service
until such time as they had been able to work out their own plans.
224 Meanwhile the various British authorities in Egypt who had con-
idered the question of civil aviation had become increasingly conscious, more
iarticularly in view of the growing tension with Italy, of its potential military
mportance. For instance, constant changes m the pilots on the Ala Littoria
ervice through Egypt and the Sudan left little doubt that this service was being
sed to build up a large reserve of pilots who knew the route and the countiy.
; he Air Officer Commanding considered it important to restrict as far as possible
he oneration of foreign lines in what would be, m the event of war a vital
entre* of communications for the British Empire, and he pointed out also that