? 757\0~)' Approved For Relea~e 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 -Ce11 fidential No Foreign Dinem DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE Intelligence Memorandum Probable US-Rumanian Civil Air Agreement Confidential ­ ER IM 68-l54 December 1968 Copy No. ~D Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 ~ ., J!L-.QO \. ;2.0~. OOl 'l. ;y~ , NfioRA~ ~t .3 ...l-01 Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 ~. . WARNING This document contains information affecting the national defense of the United States, within the meaning of Title 18, sections 793 and 794, of the US Code, as amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents to or re­ceipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited by law. GROUP' 1 Exdudod from outomat1c downgrading ond declouification Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 Approved For Reftt&jq!l9~f1$t~tf,.LJ-001-204-1-2-4 No Foreign Dissem CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Directorate of Intelligence 6 December 1968 INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM Probable US-Rumanian Civil Air Agreement Summary A Rumanian civil aviation delegation is scheduled to arrive in Washington on 9 December to negotiate a bilateral air agreement with the United States that would pave the way for Pan American Airways (PAA) to fly to Bucharest and possibly for eventual service by TAROM, the Rumanian state airline, to New York. Conclusion of an air agreement would make the United States the 17th non-Communist country with which Rumania has bilateral air agreements or arrangements. Rumania's small airline, TAROM, operates 23 international flights a week, fewer flights t h an the airlines of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary, but more than those of Bulgaria and East Ge r many . TAROM services all of the Warsaw Pact countries , nine Western European countries, and four countr i es of t he Middle East. Domestic service provides about 105 flights a week, by propeller­driven aircr aft, to 15 cities of Rumania. TAROM used exclusivel y Soviet aircraft until 1968, when it ordered s i x BAC-111-400 jet transports from Great Britain, thus becoming the first airline of a Warsaw Pact country to purchase Western jet aircraft. TAROM Note: Thia memorandum was produced solely by CIA. It was prepared by the Office of Economic Research in consultation with the Department of St ate and t he Defense Intelligence Agency J and with a contribution from the Central Reference Servi ce of CIA. It was coordinated with the Office of Current Intelli gence. Approved For Reiie~~W&&1J1(i1j}ij-001-204-1-2-4 Approved For Release 2000/08/~1· NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 QQ~(FIDEI~l L also became the first Communist airline to fly into Israel, beginning scheduled service between Bucharest and Tel Aviv in May 1968. A US-Rumanian air agreement, following on the heels of agreements between the two countries on peaceful uses of atomic energy and cultural exchanges, would be another manifestation of Rumania's independ­ent stance in relation to the USSR but one that would not overly irritate the USSR. Rumania also would expect that PAA service to Bucharest, which could begin by the summer of 1969, would stimulate the flow of US tourists to Rumania. TAROM would not inaugurate service to New York before 1970, at the earliest, because it lacks modern long-range aircraft. .• 2 ­ Approved For R'1~2Ubk>6f11¥.INLJ-001-204-1-2-4 Approved For Re(mi!f>PB'Sij{FiA~LJ-001-204-1-2-4 US Civil Air Negotiations with Rumania 1. A Rumanian civil aviation delegation is scheduled to arrive in Washington on 9 December 1968 to negotiate a US-Rumanian bilateral civil air agree­me nt. The negotiations, probably lasting for ten days to two weeks, could result in the initialing of an ad refer endum text of a bilateral agreement. If an agreement is initialed, subsequent negotiations probably would be necessary to resolve difficult points before submitting the agreement to the re­specti ve governments for approval and signature.* 2. The most difficult matter to be resolved, as i n the negoti ations with Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia earlier this year, concerns the conditions under which an American airline can conduct business in Rumania, particularly the sale of tickets and the abi lity t o remit and convert currency. Other ques­tions that may cause difficulties include arbitra­tion procedures and routes. Background of the Negotiations 3. The present negotiations stem from initiatives begun by the Rumanian Government a year ago. In late 1967 , Rumanian Government officials, apparently wish­ing t o increase t h e flow of American tourists to Rumania, evinced a desire to improve air conununica­tions be tween t h e United States and Rumania.** They * The ad refer e ndum text of the agreement wi th Czechoslovakia was initialed in February 1968 but has not yet been signed. ** The Rumanians are spending increasing amounts on improving tourist facilities in an effort to attract tourists from ha~d currency countries . The effort has resulted in construction of more than 25, 000 new hote l rooms over the past three years and another 15, 000 planned by 1970, including completion of the I ntercon­t i nental Hotel in Bucharest. "Welcome to Rumania " advertisements have been run in· several US news papers . The number of US citizens visiting Rumania incre ased from 2, 7'30 in 1965 to 3, 750 in 1966,. then droppe d slightly to '3,,480 in 1967 . The tour-ist flow . f r om . . Rumania has been small; only about 500 Ruman-ian c-it-i ­zena visited the United States during fiscal year 1968 . Rumania, however,, has recently eased travel re s trictions on Rumanians traveling abroad. -3 ­ COt~FIDEt4''l'IAL.. Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 CQ~t:FID~PAJTIJd!J indicated that they would welcome PAA service to Bucharest, preferably under a bilateral air agree­ment.* As a consideration, they pointed out that although Rumania had recently become a member of ' ~e International Ci vil Aviation Organization (ICAO), i t was not a party to the International Air Services Transit Agreement, and that, with a US-Rumanian air ~greement~ ?AA wo~ld no longer have to avoid overfly­i ng Rumania on flights beyond Prague or Vienna to Turkey.** 4. The Rumanians raised the question of a bi­lateral ai r agreement again in July 1968, when a Uni t ed States Department of Transportation (DOT) delegation visited Rumania at the invitation of Rumanian Deputy Premier Birladeanu. From the beginni ng of a scheduled meeting with the Rumanian· Minis try of Motor, Water, and Air Transport, it was appare nt that the Rumanians were primarily interested in and seemed prepared solely to discuss a bilateral air agr eement, al though the stated purpose of the visit was to di scuss matters of common interest in the f iel d of transportation.*** Indeed, DOT officials had attempted to make it clear before the visit and again at the opening of the meeting that they did not have the authori ty to negotiate such an air agreement. 5 . The US Government took the next step ; on 20 September 196 8 Ion Baicu, Rumanian Minister of Motor, Water, and Air Transport, was personally pre­sented with copies of the US draft of a bilateral air agreement. The Mini ster stated that the Government of Rumania would submit comments along with a Rumanian * In November 1967 , Mr. Nicolea Bozdog, Chairman, Council of Tourism, headed a sma'll delegation of Rumaniana in New York for discussions with PAA re ­garding measures for improving touri sm to Rumania . Among the other members of the delegation was Mr: , Leonte Cheorghe , Deputy General Manager of Ruman~a s National Tourist Office . ** Such an overflight wou'ld a'lao require the approval of Hungary and ~uZgaria. . *** The meeting was cha~red by Constant~n Sendrea , Secretary General of the Ministry of Mot~r~ Wat~r, and Air Transport , who is in charge of c~v~z av~a­tion matters (see the Appendix) . -4 ­ Approved For ~!6U/bBW.~LJ-001-204-1-2-4 Approved For Rele~lj~HEf~Af.J-001-204-1-2-4 draft agreement in about a week and that he did not expect any s~rious obstacles to reaching agree­ment. The Rwnanians were informed that the global scope of US airline services required the US Govern­ment to adhere as closely as possible in its agreements to standard form and substance developed in bilaterals with 50 countries, and that the 9 December date for beginning negotiations was tied to the acceptability of the US draft as a basis for consultation. The following week the Rumanian Government assured both US Government and PAA officials that the US draft would be the basis for negotiation. Rumania's official comments were received on 6 November, seven weeks after the US draft was presented. Rumania's Civil Air Activities 6. Rumania has civil air agreements with all the Warsaw Pact countries, Yugoslavia, and 16 non­Communist countries (see Table 1) . TAROM operates 23 international flights a week from Bucharest to six Communist countries and 13 non··Communis t coun­tries (see Table 2). This represents fewer inter­national flights than the airlines of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary but more than those of Bulgaria and East Germany. Except_for flights to Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, and Tel Aviv, TAROM's service is exclusively European.* Its international route net­work extends over 15,000 unduplicated miles (see the map, Figure 1). 7. TAROM's largest service is domestic, providing about 105 round trip flights weekly between Bucharest and 15 other cities and towns. During the summer, total flights are increased to about 155 in order to augment service to the Black Sea and mountain resort * F0 r a r"e c e n t s tudy of th e i n t e rnati on a 'l s e -r vi a e of Communiot airlineo into the Free World, see ER IM 68-128, Conununist International Civil Air Activities in the Free World Since 1965, October 1968, CONFI­ DENTIAL. -5 ­ Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 -COt{FIDEt(Th\L Approved For ReleasNfil®Ae.8111.SIPliLJ-001-204-1-2-4 Table l Civil Air Agreements of Rumania with Non-Conununist Countries and Yugoslavia as of Mid-1968 a/ Country Year Country Year Austria 19 58 Lebanon 1967 Belgium 1956 Netherlands 1957 Denmark 1958 Norway 19 58France 1962 Sweden 1957Ghana 196 2 Switzerland 1960 Greece 1960 Turkey 1965 Israel 196 8 United Arab Republic 1958 Italy 196 5 b/ West Germany 1961 b/Yugoslavia 1956 a. Ruman~a also has air agreements with all the War­saw Pact countries. b. Provisional agreement. Figure 1 INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AIR ROUTES OF RUMANIA WINTER 1968-69 Copenhagen Tel Aviv-Yafo 75137 12-68 -6 ­ Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 GQiqf?IVl~:tqTIAL Approved For Relaa~iID~IiNLJ-001-204-1-2-4 Table 2 Rumanian Air Transport (TAROM) Schedule o f International Air Service Winter, 1968-69 Rout e Bucharest-Prague-East Berlin­Copenhagen Bucharest-Sofia-Athens Bucharest-Brussels-London Buchares t-Moscow Buc..1arest-Paris ~ Bucharest-Vienna-Paris Bucharest-Vienna~Frankfurt Bucharest-Frankfurt Buchares t ··Sofia Bucharest-Budapest-Wars aw Bucharest-Vienna-Zurich Bucharest-Rome Bucharest-Zurich Bucharest-Istanbul-Beirut Bucharest-Sofia-Athens-Cairo Bucharest-Tel Aviv b/ Trip Number R0-201 20 3 205 207 209 211 215 217/219 221 225 227 2 35 237 239 241 243/244 Flights per Week 2 1 2 2 2 a/ 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 b/ Type of Aircraft IL-18 IL-18 IL-18/BAC-111-400 IL-18 IL-18 IL-18 BAC-111-400 IL-18/BAC-111-400 IL-18 IL-18 BAC-111-400 IL-18/BAC-111-400 BAC-111-400 IL-18 IL-18 IL-18/BAC-111-400 a. One v~a Zur~ch. b. One via Istanbul . -7 ­ ~ONFibEN¥IlrL Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 Approved For Rel@(S~~~I~J-001-204-1-2-4 areas. TAROM , empl~yi~g about 1,000 people,* carried 570,?00 ~assengers i n international and domestic ~ervice in 1967 , a~most three times the number carried ·. in 1960 , as shown i n the following tabulation: Year Thousand Passengers 19 50 39 1955 127 1960 19 8 196 3 333 1965 371 1966 478 1967 571 Soviet Inf l ue nce 8 . Sovi et i nfluence shaped the post-World War II histor y of Rumanian civil aviation and is evident today·in TAROM's ai rcraft inventory. After World War II , Rumania and the USSR established a joint air carrier , which took over the few remaining ass.ets of the Rumanian prewa r airline LARES. The new venture, Societatea de Transport uri Aer iene Romano-Sovietiaa (TARS) , was owned i n equal shares by the Rumanian and Soviet Governments, and was operated with air­craft supplied by the USSR. Placement of Soviet personnel in key pos i t i ons gave the USSR effective control of the air line until 1954, when the joint company --along with other j oi nt Rumanian-Soviet enterprises --was dissolved~ Rumania purchased the * TAROM's employees consist of 160 multiengine­qualified pilots (40 percent qualified on the IL -18) , 40 flight engineers, 25 flight navigators , 50 flight radio operators, 40 stewards and stewardesses , 20 air traffic controllers and about 200 ground teoh ­niciana and administrative personnel at Bucharest/ Baneasa Airport, and between 400 and 500 employees assigned to the remaining aivil airports in Rumania and as TAROM representatives in foreign offiaes . -8 ­ Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 cotq-fIDE?~Cf'IAL Approved For Re1EfaQHll'ab)~Tl~LJ-001-204-1-2-4 Soviet share.of TARS and established TAROM as a wholly R:irnanian-owned air carrier. TAROM took over TARS e9uipment a~d Rumanian personnel, and began expanding operations. 9 .. TAROM's current inventory consists almost exclusively of Soviet aircraft. Most of TAROM's internatio~al flights are serviced by IL-18's and the domestic routes by propeller·~driven LI-2 's and IL-14 1 s, which make up about 60 percent of the cur­ rent inventory, as shown below~ · Aircraft Number of Uni ts --·---------­ AN-24 2 LI-2 8 to 10 IL-14 16 IL-18 13 BAC-111· -4 0 0 2 (plus 4 scheduled for delivery in 1969) A More Ind~pendent Stance 10. Rumania's more independent stance in the Communist world has been reflected in civil air matters. In March 1968, Rurnania and Israel signed an air agreement, and TAROM became the first Com­munist airline to fly into Israel.* TAROM inaugu­rated weekly service between Bucharest and Tel Aviv on 9 May, and Israel's El Al began weekly flights from Tel Aviv to Constanta.** The new services were an irrunediate success for both airlines and were increased to two flights a week in the summer of 1968. -*-Ruman{a-·zuaD -·-the only WaraaiJ Pact country that did not break diplomatic relations with Icrael during the 196? Arab-Israeli War. ** Other non-Communist airlines serving Rumania are Air France, Austrian Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Sabena, and Swissair. -9 ­ Approved For Rel!ase 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 -bOtiFIDEt(TfAL Approved For Relea~otlZolft:teTW..001-204.1.2-4 Safety 12. TAROM has had five major air crashes since 1959, four resulting in the loss of life. Although none of these crashes were in scheduled international service and there had been no crashes in more than two years, the overall record is a poor one. The airline has been accused by the press and certain government officials of nepotism in appointment and assignments of pilots. TAROM's major air crashes are shown in Table 3. Table 3 TAROM's Major Air Crashes Since 1959 Aircraft Date Route Deaths LI-2 1960 Domestic; at Iasi 2 2 (all) IL-18 February 19 6 2 Charter from Bucharest None (79 pas­to Israel at Nicosia sengers and 6 crew aboard) IL-14 June 1963 Charter from Munich to 34 (all) Bucharest lii-2 June 196 4 Domestic; at Bacau 30, estimated (all) IL-14 August 1966 Domestic; at Sibiu 2 4 (all) TAROM's Prospects 13. TAROM needs to modernize its largely obsolete air fleet. The airline has made a good start in this respect by ordering the six BAC-lll-400's. To main­tain its competitive position in international serv­ice 1 however, TAROM will have to replace even more of its IL-18's with modern aircraft. In addition, there is a requirement to replace the obsolete LI-2's and IL-14's that service domestic routes. -11 ­ Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 ___..COt(FID~l>ITTA I Approved For Rel@(S~atlm~N~Ittl_l,..J-001-204-1-2-4 14. ~he ma~or airports in Rurnania are being up­graded, including Bucharest/Baneas~, which is cur­rently used for most international air traffic. Long-range jets cannot fly into this airport with a full payload, which is the principal reason that El Al flies into Constanta. Bucharest/Otopeni Air­port, which is used for both military and civil air­craft, is undergoing extensive expansion and upgrad­ing and by 1970 is scheduled to be the principal international airport. 15. TAROM also needs to expand its international service to Western Europe in order to handle its proportionate share of the expected increase in tourist traffic. The shortage of suitable aircraft, however, makes it likely that Western airlines will expand their services to Rurnania before TAROM is ready to expand its services. Moreover, some in­crease in intermediate points and a modest exten­sion of existing routes to the Middle East and North Africa can be undertaken without additional aircraft. No long-haul routes can be inaugurated without the_ acquisition of long-range jet aircraft. 16. A bilateral civil air agreement with the United States probably would result in PAA service between New York and Bucharest as an extension of existing service to Frankfurt or Vienna, possibly as soon as the summer of 1969. TAROM cannot initi­ate service to New York until it acquires a long­range aircraft. Even then with the needed aircraft, the decision to initiate service to New York probably would be based on political considerations, as the level of traffic would not appear to make this a commercially profitable venture for TAROM for the next several years. A Bucharest-New York service by TAROM, therefore, is unlikely to be initiated before 1970 at the earliest. -12 ­ Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : NLJ-001-204-1-2-4 J:'Q!rt'.f?If)t!I~'f'IAL ..