Crilly Airways started up running two eight seat de Havilland Dragons from Braunstone, a suburb of Leicester.
They also operated a de Havilland Fox Moth and two General Aircraft Monospar twin-engined monoplanes.
In 1935, Crilly Airways sought government approval to operate an air service between Britain and Ireland but was refused.
[citation needed] Crilly Airways bought four twelve-seater Fokker F.XIIs from KLM.
Unable to survive financially following the failure of the Portuguese venture, the company ceased trading on 9 September 1936 and entered receivership.