Crilly Airways Ltd
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Crilly Airways Ltd was an airline founder by entrepreneur Frederick Leo Crilly. The airline operated air services between several cities in England between 1935 and 1936 [1]
Crilly Airways started up running two eight seat de Havilland Dragon Rapides from Braunstone, a suburb of Leicester. [2]
In 1935 Crilly Airways asked permission to operate an air service between Britain and Ireland but was refused. It was the government's intention to operate a national airline between the two countries. [3]
Crilly bought four Fokker F.XIIs from KLM. Crilly Airways, using these planes, was the first airline to offer airmail flights between England and Portugal, opening this service on 1 February 1936. It was his intension to extend this service to Gibraltar and West Africa, but this plan came to a halt when the Spanish government refused Crilly Airways to overfly its territory.
This airline was the first to offer a frequent flyer program, thought to be an invention of modern airlines.
British Airways bought the aircraft and started the company British Airways Iberia Ltd. with Crilly as managing director. But this company also soon went bankrupt.
The planes were then sold, via shady deals, to the Spanish nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. [4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ David Lyall. The World's Airlines, past, present & future. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ Leicestershire Aeroclub History. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ Privatisation Experiences in the EU. A joint Initiative of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and Ifo Institute for Economic Research. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ Fokker F.XII. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
