Based initially in Newcastle upon Tyne, it operated routes from Scotland to London in competition with the railways, retaining its independence to the end.

[2] The first service to be operated was the east coast route to Scotland, from London (Heston) to Leeds (Yeadon), Newcastle (Cramlington) and Edinburgh (Turnhouse).

The inaugural flight started at Leeds and Bradford Municipal Aerodrome, otherwise known as Yeadon Airport, where on 8 April 1935 the first aircraft, Airspeed Envoy G-ADAZ, was named Tynedale by Mrs Anthony Eden (Beatrice Beckett).

Even when Edinburgh service did start, on 27 May, demand was so low that the whole route was closed on 27 June[4] and the airline's assets were taken over by another of Grimthorpe's companies, Alp Aviation.

From Hull they ran a ferry service with the Airspeed Couriers across the Humber Estuary to Grimsby (Waltham Aerodrome), a route pioneered by North Sea Aerial and General Transport in 1932–3.

The airline applied for a mail-carrying contract and was initially refused, but later granted, and their first mail flight, from Perth to Newcastle, then onwards on the route via Yeadon and Doncaster to Croydon was flown on 3 October 1938.

All NEA's activities stopped with the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, and their headquarters were moved to Liverpool Speke Airport.

Most of the fleet had been disposed of during the earlier part of 1939, but the Rapides were retained, coming under the control of National Air Communications (NAC), and were all impressed into military service in early 1940.

[17] One part of the company kept going, however; a subsidiary, Martin Hearn Ltd.[18] Its eponymous founder had worked for Alan Cobham before setting up as an aircraft engineer at Liverpool's Hooton Park in 1935.

[19] Meanwhile, the remains of NEA were bought by L.N.E.R in April 1944,[20] and they possibly sold off Martin Hearn Ltd in 1947 when its name was changed to Aero-Engineering and Marine (Merseyside).

While operating for North Eastern Airways, Airspeed Courier G-ACSZ was involved in a fatal crash,[26] and Envoy G-ADBZ crash-landed with no injuries and was returned to service.