New Zealand Post to celebrate Air NZ’s 75-year anniversary with special stamp set

Air NZ's five commemorative stamps. (New Zealand Post) — Air NZ’s five commemorative stamps. (New Zealand Post)

New Zealand Post and Air New Zealand will celebrate the carrier’s 75th anniversary in 2015 with a set of commemorative stamps.

The five stamps will illustrate the airline’s history of connecting the Land of the Long White Cloud to the world over the past seven and a half decades, from its beginnings as Tasman Empire Airways Ltd (TEAL), to the achievements of National Airways Corporation (NAC) and the modern feats of Air New Zealand.

They highlight TEAL’s inaugural service across the Tasman in 1940, a Lockheed Lodestar that flew in NAC colours for parts of the 1940s and 1950s and Air NZ’s first Boeing 787-9 painted in All Black livery.

“Air New Zealand has a rich history and to see it celebrated in this collection will inspire a sense of nostalgia and pride in all New Zealanders,” Air New Zealand’s chief marketing and customer officer Mike Tod said in a statement on Wednesday.

New Zealand Post’s head of stamps and coins Simon Allison said it was a fitting way to celebrate Air NZ’s 75 years of operation.