Communications and transit > Air transport co-operation committee : minutes of the first session : held at Geneva from July 8th to 12th, 1930

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of the various companies, the goodwill of Governments, and the loyal observance of equitable
agreements would enable close co-operation, satisfactory to all, to be established at once. If
all thoughts of a monopoly were abandoned, it would be possible even in the present state of direct
agreements and of pools already established between companies under Government control to
secure a satisfactory measure of collaboration between the various civil aviation undertakings.
That might, of course, be made more complete in the near future, but it could be initiated even
with the systems at present in force. In those cirumstances, while appreciating M. Chaumie s
proposal, M. Molfese said that he supported M. Fisch’s proposal.
M. Fisch said that, in substance, he appeared to be in agreement with Sir W. Sefton Brancker
if the latter thought that it would eventually be possible for pools to be adapted to the organisation
which he advocated. These pools could, of course, be arranged in different ways according to
economic requirements.
M. Sondermayer thought that the question of national air transport should not be dealt
with by the Committee, as the question of connections had a political side, which should not be
touched on by a Committee on civil aviation ; but Sir W. Sefton Brancker’s observations were of
interest, as national lines might possibly be utilised for international purposes.
M. Chaumie thought that M. Fisch's proposal could best be discussed by taking the various
parts separately. As regards the first paragraph of that proposal, he thought that all the members
of the Committee were in agreement ; the present state of affairs must not be lost sight of, and it
was obvious that the pools system had proved effective ; it was a necessary stage on the road to
better international conditions.
However, he could not accept the second part of M. Fisch’s proposal—namely, to refer the
question of the establishment of an international company to the representatives of commercial
aviation companies already in existence. That was a political question, which lay outside the
province of those companies. He thought it would be best to draw up a text to the effect that the
Committee would ask the various Governments, through the League, to investigate the question.
The fact that it was of fundamental importance should be emphasised ; it was as vital to-day as
the questions of submarine cables and transcontinental railways had been yesterday. The
examination of the question was consequently a matter for Governments, which should co-operate
effectively with each other by creating an international company to control the main air lines,
otherwise competition between national lines would give rise to disputes, which must be avoided
at all costs.
M. Fisch agreed with M. Chaumie that the question had a political side, but the essentially
commercial nature of the problem could not be ignored. In that connection, he could not help
comparing the position with the state of affairs existing in maritime navigation ; although the
conditions were identical to those of air navigation, there was no international organisation. The
healthy competition between the different companies had not hampered the development of
maritime navigation.
He thought it possible to solve the problem by economic means. If shipping companies found
that the establishment of an international company would enable them to increase their commercial
returns, they would at once form a trust. They had not done this so far. For that reason he did
not think his proposal interfered with the future development of commercial aviation.
M. Chaumie feared that if, for instance, Great Britain or the Netherlands decided to interpret
Article 15 of the Convention of 1919 in its restrictive sense, it would be absolutely impossible to
arrive at an international agreement, and he thought that, in the interest of all countries, Powers
should be forbidden to close their territories to international air traffic. That could only be done
by a political settlement of the question.
M. Fisch recognised the truth of M. Chaumie’s observation, but thought that countries which
took such action would be hoist with their own petard, as other countries would retaliate ;
consequently there was no danger of States acting in that way. He would repeat that the question
was the same as in the case of maritime navigation, since ships, after crossing the open sea, were
obliged to put into foreign ports.
M. Molfese thought that the following solution might be adopted. Since the companies
had a first-hand knowledge of the position, they could be asked to furnish the material for an
enquiry, to be carried out by the competent authorities of the various Governments.
The Chairman said that the Committee was already agreed on certain points. It
unanimously accepted paragraph 1 of M. Fisch’s proposal ; pools had been established and should
be perfected. In this connection, he ventured to suggest to M. Fisch a possible improvement in
his text. Did not the following sentence : “at this stage it seems very difficult to replace that
system by a more perfected organisation”, go further than he intended, since, in his second
paragraph, provision was made for the possibility of improving those pools ?
As regards the second paragraph of the proposal, he thought that agreement might be reached
between M. Fisch and M. Chaumie, as M. Molfese had suggested.
M. Fisch, in reply to the Chairman’s observation, pointed out that the sentence mentioned by
the Chairman was made less categorical by the words ; “at this stage”.