While the history of flight in the Middle East extends back to the Young Turk era of the Ottoman Empire, the planes flown were almost without exception imported from abroad. This tradition continued in the independence era: nascent Middle Eastern states proved eager to build airports and establish national airlines, but relied for their airplanes on U.S. and European manufacturers.
Blending corporate, technology, and national history approaches, this paper uses Boeing archives, U.S. government archives, tourist materials, and advertisements and articles from the Arabic press to investigate how U.S. corporate interest and Middle Eastern states’ nation-building objectives intersected through the sale of Boeing planes to Syrian and Saudi Arabian national airlines in the mid-1900s.
On the U.S. side, it focuses on why and how Boeing approached these markets, considering as well the role that the United States government played in facilitating or hindering this process. On the Syrian and Saudi sides, it describes how these national airlines employed Boeing planes as a means of linking national identity to global ideals of mobility and technological modernity. It traces the diverging paths of these two countries, analyzing how Syria’s political commitments (and market size) limited its relationship with Boeing to commercial jet purchases, while Saudi Arabia’s growing relationship resulted in the establishment of local Boeing offices and service contracts. Finally, it considers the long-term effects of these relationships, contrasting Boeing’s defense-related sales in Saudi Arabia with the challenges that Syria faces under current U.S. sanctions in ordering replacement parts for its aging 737s.
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