The initial Cook Strait Airways service was between
Wellington, Blenheim and Nelson. In February 1937, the service
was extended from Nelson to Greymouth and Hokitika.
There were three flights a week from Wellington, Blenheim and Nelson to Greymouth and Hokitika
from where a connection could be made with the
Air Travel (NZ)
service to Haast and Okuru.
The first service was planned for 23 February 1937, but although
the Dragon Rapide with G.B.Bolt as pilot left Nelson, it had to
return due to bad weather.
Letters had been datestamped 23 February at Nelson, but as the
second attempt at the journey was on 24 February, the datestamp was
re-applied at Nelson at 7 am with the new date.
This can be seen on the cover which was flown from Nelson
to Hokitika by Cook Strait Airways.
The plane carried 417 items for Greymouth and 379 for Hokitika.
From Hokitika, the cover was flown on to
Okuru by Air Travel (NZ).
As the Air Travel (NZ) service was only weekly, the
mail was not flown to Okuru until 1 March
as can be seen from the backstamp.
A connection could be made with Union Airways at Blenheim.
The next cover was posted at Palmerston North on 22 February
and flown to Blenheim
by Union Airways and from Blenheim to Nelson by the
established Cook Strait Airways service on the same day.
The flight from Nelson to Hokitika by the
new Cook Strait Airways service was attempted on the 23rd
and took place on the 24th.
It was then flown from Hokitika to
Okuru by Air Travel (NZ) on 1 March.
It has a fine array of backstamps.
It is postmarked Palmerston North and backstamped Blenheim at 10.45am
and Nelson at 2pm on 22 February.
Due to the delayed flight it is postmarked
again at Nelson on 24 February
and backstamped Hokitika on the 24th and Okuru on 1 March.
Return flight
The return flight was on the same day and started at 10.45 from
Hokitika and left Greymouth at 11.15.
Covers from both Hokitika and Greymouth
had originally been postmarked on 23 February, but due to the
delay they were datestamped again on 24 February.
This cover is one of 515 from Greymouth to Nelson.
It has postmarks at 10.30am on both the
23 and 24 February and a
Nelson backstamp at 2pm on 24 February.
There had previously been an
experimental airmail between
Wellington and Hokitika via Nelson and Westport in January 1932.
Addition of Westport, March 1939
On 15 March 1939, a stop at Westport was added to the service
between Nelson and Greymouth and the frequency of the service was increased
from three times a week to daily.
This cover was flown on the first northbound flight from Westport to Wellington.
It is postmarked at Westport at 11 am
and backstamped at Wellington at 2.45pm.
Connections were made at Wellington with the Union Airways service.
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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