On 16 April 1935, East Coast Airways (ECAL) started a regular
passenger service between Gisborne and Napier.
This was the first licensed regular passenger service in New Zealand.
The planes used were two DH 84 Dragons.
Gisborne – Napier
An official airmail was only carried on the first flight from
Gisborne to Napier and on the return from Napier to Gisborne.
The pilot was Captain T.W White.
The cover was carried from Gisborne to Napier.
It is postmarked Gisborne at 6 am on 16 April and backstamped
at Napier at 9.30 am.
Napier – Gisborne
The next cover was carried on the return flight from Napier to Gisborne.
It is postmarked Napier at 9.30 and backstamped on arrival at
Gisborne at 12.30.
The pilot on the first flight was Capt. TW White.
His biography is on pages 108-110 of
the November 1995 issue of
The Kiwi.
Also flown to South Westland
The only regular airmail service in New Zealand at this time was from
Hokitika to Haast and Okuru in South Westland.
After being flown from Gisborne to Napier,
this cover was flown from Hokitika to Haast.
It is backstamped at Napier on 16 April, but the Haast backstamp
is not until 30 April.
The cover has a privately printed inscription stating that it was
flown on the service to South Westland.
Later flights
The passenger service was suspended on 15 March 1936 while improvements were
made to Gisborne airport.
The service resumed on 7 December 1936 and now
included a regular official airmail.
The flights were from Gisborne to Napier in the early morning
with a return from Napier in the afternoon.
This cover is one of 245 covers flown on the first regular flight from
Napier to Gisborne.
It is postmarked Napier at 3.30pm on 7 December
and backstamped Gisborne at 7.30pm.
It was then flown back to Napier on the next day on the second flight from Gisborne.
It is postmarked at Gisborne at 6am and backstamped at Napier
at 8am.
On 30 October 1937, the service was
extended from Napier to Palmerston
North allowing a connection with Union Airways services.
This route was taken over by Union Airways on 1 July 1938
back next
All scans were made by the author.
Information on this page is taken from:
Airmails of New Zealand, volume 1 (1955) compiled by Douglas A Walker,
and the New Zealand Airmail Catalogue, (2nd Edition, 1994)
by James Stapleton.
Both are published by the
Air Mail Society of New Zealand