Gisborne Air Transport ran a Gisborne - Hastings airmail service from March 1931 to December 1932.
Gisborne Air Transport took over the Dominion Airlines route with the first flight being on 10 March 1931. The plane was a DH 60 Moth and the pilot was W.H. Lett. The airmail cost was 6d although that was officially a charge for the pilot signing the letter. In addition, the letters had to carry an ordinary stamp as the mail was posted at the end of the flight.
The first flight left Gisborne at 6.45am and arrived in Hastings at 8am. The return flight left Hastings at 9.45am and arrived back at Gisborne at 11am.
Special envelopes were used on the first day flight in both directions as can be seen on the cover which is one of 180 flown from Hastings to Gisborne. It is signed by the pilot at the bottom left and was posted on arrival at Gisborne. The postmark shows 2.45pm on March 10.
Flights continued on this route until December 1932. In April 1935, East Coast Airways started a regular passenger service between Gisborne and Napier (near Hastings). This was connected to the national network in 1937.
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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
Wingspread by Leo White, Unity Press, Auckland 1941.