This map of airline routes in the Eastern Mediterranean and adjacent areas was compiled and drawn by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for the Department of State, based on information supplied by the Foreign Air Transport Division of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board. It presumably was for use by diplomats at the newly established International Civil Aviation Organization. Some of the airlines whose routes are shown exist to the present day; others have merged, gone bankrupt, or changed their names. Athens, Cairo, Lydda (Lod in present-day Israel; until 1948 British Royal Air Force Station Lydda), Beirut, and Baghdad are shown as important air-transport hubs. Noteworthy for this early period is the internal network established by Ethiopian Air Lines, with links from Addis Ababa to Gondar, Debra Marcos, Gimma (present-day Gonder, Debre Mark’os, and Jīma), and other towns and cities, as well as the airline’s international flights to Nairobi, Cairo, Aden, and Asmara. Aircraft of this era had limited ranges, and flights from, for example, the United Kingdom to Australia or the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) are shown as stopping to refuel at locations in the Middle East, including Dhahran (Saudi Arabia), Bahrein, and Sharja (United Arab Emirates).