Service over Air New England’s Air Mail Route 172, the first (albeit regional) new Contract Air Mail route to begin in many years, was inaugurated on January 24, 1975. Cities served were Waterville, Augusta, Lewiston and Portland, Maine; Burlington and Montpelier, Vermont; Lebanon and Keene, New Hampshire; Boston, New Bedford, Hyannis, Oak Bluffs and Nantucket, Massachusetts, and New York City.

Inaugural service from New York / Newark was from LaGuardia Airport (Air New England used the Marine Air Terminal, a facility originally used by Pan American Airways’ Clipper Flights).

No official cachets were provided.

This cover was one of only 141 pieces of mail carried on the inaugural Air Mail Route 172 flight from Portland, Maine to Augusta, Maine (where it was backstamped) and is listed in The Contract Air Mail Flights (CAM) section of The American Air Mail Catalogue as 172N7.