Effective August 8, 1946, Colonial Airlines greatly expanded Air Mail Route 72 by embracing new points through parallel and alternate routings between the established terminals.

No cachet was provided for the inaugural mail from New York to Saranac Lake.

This cover was one of only 75 pieces of mail carried on the inaugural Air Mail Route 72 flight from the New York Airport Mail Facility to Saranac Lake, New York (where it was backstamped) and is listed in the Contract Air Mail Flights (CAM) Section of The American Air Mail Catalogue as 72N8f.

Eastern Air Lines absorbed Colonial Airlines on June 1, 1956. Colonial Airlines had operated for more than 25 years without a passenger fatality.