Claiming the Skies: The Politics and Practices of Diplomacy in Early Global Aviation

This article examines the intricate inter-imperial diplomacy that accompanied the development of intercontinental aviation networks in the early air age. As aircraft technology advanced during the inter-war years, imperial governments sponsored airlines to connect metropoles with distant colonies. The planned routes of these airlines, however, often crossed into the overseas territories of other empires. Because the legal principle of air sovereignty granted states control over their airspace, governments engaged in bilateral diplomatic negotiations for flyover and landing rights. These interactions are at the centre of the present article, which examines negotiations over air routes to Asia among the British, Dutch, French, and US governments in the 1920s and 1930s. Arguing that the massive expansion of air infrastructure during this period cannot be fully explained by the formulations of the Paris Convention or by institutional frameworks alone, this article highlights the decisive role of horizontal, bilateral transactions in shaping widely accepted practices and principles. To navigate the complicated geographical dynamics of imperial globality, and in the absence of comprehensive regulation, diplomatic brokers gradually developed a mutual code of conduct for acquiring and granting air access. This article demonstrates that the concept of air sovereignty, established by multilateral codification, was not an isolated doctrine; rather, it was accompanied by the concept of reciprocity, which was established in practice. It was only through the combination of air sovereignty and reciprocity that intercontinental air route expansion became feasible in the rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape of the inter-war period.