| EXCHANGE OF NOTES CONSTITUTING AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND INDIA AMENDING THE AGREEMENT OF 1 AND 5 JULY
1947 RELATING TO FLIGHTS OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT New Delhi, 22 April and 3 May 1948 I MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS AND COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS No. D. 1750-FEA/48 New Delhi 3, the 22nd April, 1948 1. The Minister for External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of the United
States of America and has the honour to refer to his letter No. 249, dated the 24th September 1947, regarding flights across India
by United States military aircraft and the facilities to be accorded to such aircraft while within Indian territory. 2. As suggested in paragraph 2 of the letter under reference, the Government of India agree to the revision of numbered paragraph
2 of the arrangements already reached. The partition of the country, has further necessitated the amendment of certain other arrangements,
and the Government of India therefore consider that the numbered paragraph 2 should read as follows:— "2. Facilities for these
flights transiting India are to be available at Bombay (Santa Cruz), Agra and Dum Dum. The aircraft should land, for customs and
health examination, at— " (i) Bombay (Santa Cruz) Airport if it enters India direct from the West without landing at Karachi, "or " (ii) Palam if it has already been cleared at Karachi by the Health authorities, " (iii) Dum Dum if it enters India from the East. "Agra can be used for intermediate landings, and any aerodrome can be used in
an emergency." It may however be noted that facilities pertaining to servicing, accommodation, messing and transport cannot
be provided at Dum Dum airport. These may possibly be obtained by the United States Military authorities by arrangement with Pan-American
Airways. Facilities will not also be available at Barrackpore as no unit of the Royal Indian Air Force will be located there. 3. The second sentence of Clause 7 of the arrangements already reached should now be deleted as the privilege thereby conferred expired
on the 24th October 1947. It is considered that fare-paying passengers, if requiring international air transport, should be carried
by civil airlines and not on State aircraft. 4. Throughout the agreement, the words "Royal Air Force" or "R.A.F.", wherever used, should be substituted by
the words "Royal Indian Air Force" or "R.I A.F.". To His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States of America,
New Delhi. II AMERICAN EMBASSY No. 167 [SEAL] New Delhi, India, May 3, 1948 The Charge d'Affairs ad interm of the United States of America presents his compliments to the Honourable Minister for External Affairs
and Commonwealth Relations and has the honor to refer to his note No. D.1760-FEA/48 dated April 22, 1948, regarding amendments to
an arrangement dated July 5, 1947 with respect to flights across India by United States military aircraft. The revisions suggested in the aforementioned note are satisfactory to the United States Government, which now regards the previous
arrangement as amended accordingly. The United States Government agrees, as a matter of general principle, that fare-paying international
passengers should be carried by civil air services, where available, rather than state aircraft. Regulations of the U.S. National
Military Establishment permit the carriage of passengers by U.S. Military aircraft under exceptional circumstances, and when such
travel is deemed to be in the national interest. However, it is anticipated that any such traffic into or through India would be
either nil or negligible. If desired by the Government of India, the Embassy will be pleased to discuss this matter further. The Honorable Minister for External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations New Delhi. | 