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| Founded |
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| Ceased operations | 1974; 52 years ago (1974) | ||||||
| Hubs | London Luton Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 11 | ||||||
| Headquarters |
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Court Line was a 20th-century Britishtramp shipping company that was founded in 1905. In the 1960s it diversified intoshipbuilding andcharter aviation. Its merchant shipping interests were based inLondon. Itsshipyards were atAppledore inDevon andSunderland inTyne and Wear. Its airline was based atLuton Airport inBedfordshire. It also provided bus services inLuton and surrounding areas.
Its airline helped pioneer the concept of "cheap and cheerful"package tours toSpain and other destinations in theMediterranean in conjunction withClarksons Holidays, thus taking part in the establishment of a whole new way of holidaymaking for the British public.
The Court Line group, including its airline and subsidiarytour operators,Clarksons Travel Group andHorizon Travel, ceased trading on 15 August 1974, with at least£7 million owing to 100,000 holidaymakers.[1][2]
Philip Haldinstein was aBritish Jewish businessman fromNorwich. He founded thetramp shipping company Haldinstein and Co Ltd in 1905.[3]Robert Stephenson and Company launched Haldinstein's first ship,Arlington Court, atHebburn on theRiver Tyne that October.[4]
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Between 1906 and 1912 Haldinstein added several new steamships from shipyards on the Tyne[6] and theRiver Wear.[5] When theFirst World War broke out in 1914, Haldinstein & Co had a fleet of seven ships and was operating as Court Line, Ltd.[7]Anti-German sentiment arose in Britain in the war, so in 1915 Haldinstein shortened his surname to Haldin.[3]
In 1915 Haldin bought a second-hand ship,Dalebank, which he renamedIlvington Court. In 1917 a U-boat sankIlvington Court in theMediterranean, killing eight of her crew.[8] Haldin sold several ships between 1916 and 1921, reducing his fleet to only two ships:Geddington Court andHannington Court.[9]
From 1924 onward Haldin expanded his fleet again. He bought a mixture of new and second-hand ships. The second-hand ones were ships that had been built just after the end of the First World War to theShipping Controller's war standard designs. Haldin continued to name his ships in the same "—ington Court" style, and re-used some names more than once. By 1926 the fleet had 26 ships.[9]
In 1926 Haldin registered his fleet under the name United British Steamship Co Ltd. In 1929 Richard Philipps, the youngest brother ofOwen Philipps, 1st Baron Kylsant, joined Haldin in the business, which was renamed Haldin and Philipps Ltd. In the 1930s part of the fleet was laid up.[3] In 1939 Haldin was made aKnight Bachelor.[10]
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In 1937 Court Line lost two ships.Nollington Court sank in theCaribbean after striking a submerged object.[12] Less than a fortnight later,Quarrington Court sank in theRed Sea after springing a leak in a water intake in herengine room.[13]
When theSecond World War began in 1939, Haldin & Philipps Ltd had a fleet of 23 ships.[14] In the war it lost 14 ships, 13 of them to enemy action, with the loss of 136 lives.[15] One ship,Pennington Court, was lost with all hands.[16]
From 1940 onward Haldin & Philipps started to manage someEmpire ships for theMinistry of War Transport. In 1945 and 1946 it bought these ships and renamed them with "—ington Court" names.
In 1948 Philipps retired, and the company name reverted to Haldin & Co.[3] Haldin died in 1953, aged 73.[10]
From 1952 onward Haldin & Co started to buy new ships again. In the 1960s the fleet diversified intotankers. The first wasEdith Borthen, which Haldin bought in 1963 and renamedHalcyon Days. The second wasHalcyon Breeze, whichHitachi built for Court Line inJapan in 1964. TheAdmiraltycharteredHalcyon Breeze as theoilerRFA Derwentdale.[17] All Court Line tankers were named in the same "Halcyon —" style.[9]
In 1964 Court Line boughtAppledore Shipbuilders inDevon.[18] In 1972 it took over a larger shipbuilding business, theDoxford and Sunderland Group.[3] When the Court Line group went bankrupt in 1974, the shipyards and remaining ships in the fleet were sold.
The airline, originally namedArgus Air Transport, was formed atLondon Luton Airport in 1957.[2][19][20] In 1960, it becameAutair (Luton). On 27 September 1963, it changed toAutair International Airways.[21]
Autair started as a division ofAutair Helicopters, ahelicopter operator established in the early 1950s.[21][22][23][24] (Autair'shelicopter interests were subsequently hived off into a separate company.[2][24]) It began public transport operations with an ex-British European Airways (BEA)Douglas DC-3,[25] used on contract work for other airlines.[21][22][26] MoreDC-3s andVickers Vikings[27] were bought. The first of the latter joined the fleet in 1962. Both types operated freight and passenger services, including a growing number ofinclusive tour (IT) flights.
One of the earliest charter customers for Autair's DC-3s was ex-naval officerTom Gullick,[28] who would later headClarksons. Clarksons began its relationship with Autair by contracting the airline'sVikings to ferry day-trippers between up to ten UK departure points andRotterdam during theDutch bulbfield season.[1][29][26]Airspeed Ambassadors[30] and a leasedHandley Page Herald[31] were introduced in 1963. The former were the airline's firstpressurised aircraft while the latter was its firstturboprop.[21][22]
On 1 October 1963, the airline commenced scheduled services betweenBlackpool andLuton with Vikings.[1][21][26][32] The route was subsequently operated withAmbassadors and extended toGlasgow on 24 May 1966.[33]
In the following years, allpiston-engined aircraft types were withdrawn and replaced withHawker Siddeley 748[34] and Handley Page Herald turboprops. ThreeHeralds operated the company's scheduled services, including the mainLondon—Teesside route.[26][35][36][37]
1960 saw the formation of Clarksons Tours (later, Clarksons Holidays) with Tom Gullick asmanaging director. Over the next few years, Clarksons would become Autair's and its successor Court Line's most important tour operator customer.[26][38]
In April 1965 Court Line[28] bought Autair's entireshare capital for £215,000.[1][24][28][39][40]
Autair became ajet operator in 1968, when three brand-newBAC One-Eleven 400 series[41][42] joined its fleet. The new jets mainly operated IT flights.[26][35][43][44][45]
1968 was also the year Clarksons' customer base had grown to 175,000 (up from 4,000 in 1964[46]), many of whom flew to their holiday destination on Autair's new jets.[47]
By spring 1969, fiveOne-Eleven 400s (including an example acquired second-hand fromChannel Airways[48]) operated Autair's IT flights, primarily under contract toClarksons Tours.[23][26][35][43][44][45][49] These carried the bulk of the airline's half-a-million annual charter passengers, which far outnumbered the 66,000 using its scheduled services each year.[28]
From 1 April 1969, the airline's scheduled operation in London was consolidated atHeathrow, joining Teesside services which had already transferred to London's premier airport from the company's Luton base on 1 November 1967.[50][51]
In summer 1969, Autair announced its decision to withdraw all scheduled services "irrevocably", following an unsuccessful request for government subsidies. By that time, the airline's scheduled network servedBelfast, Blackpool,Carlisle, theChannel Islands,Dundee, Glasgow,Hull, theIsle of Man, London and Teesside in the UK,Dublin in theRepublic of Ireland andAmsterdam in theNetherlands. Scheduled services accounted for 12% of Autair'sturnover. The airline's scheduled operation was estimated to have generated an annual loss of £150,000 (only London—Teesside was said to be profitable).[24][26][32][35][36][52]
On 31 October 1969, scheduled services were stopped and all turboprop aircraft sold.[52] This was followed by an order for seven of the larger 119-seat500 series One-Eleven.[28][43][45][53][54]
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To coincide with the arrival of the firstBAC One-Eleven 500, the airline changed its name on 1 January 1970 toCourt Line Aviation and introduced a newcorporate look andstrategy that focused exclusively on the then fast-growingpackage holiday market.[2][24][28][32][55] As the largerOne-Eleven 500s were delivered, all but one of the smaller, former Autair400 series One-Elevens were retired.[26][55][56]
The corporate look was an all-overcolour design by Peter Murdoch. In keeping with the holiday "feel-good factor",One-Elevens were painted in the following distinctive, eye-catchingpastel colour combinations: yellow/gold/orange,[57] pink/rose/magenta,[58] pale violet/mauve/purple,[59] light green/mid-green/forest green.[60] As with the tankers in the shipping fleet, the aircraft were namedHalcyon Breeze, Halcyon Skies, Halcyon Days, etcetera.Aircrew wore trendy uniforms designed byMary Quant. This was part of making passengers feel that the flight was a "fun part" of their holiday.[1][24][28][55][61] For many, it would be their first flying experience.
Other airlines and tour operators were quick to jump on the burgeoning package holiday bandwagon. This resulted in increasingly fierce competition between operators and led to a price warfare to fill planes and hotels. UnderTom Gullick's management, Shipping Industrial Holdings' subsidiary Clarksons Holidays became the undisputed cut-price leader in the IT market. By 1973, Clarksons carried 1.1 million holidaymakers—almost 1968's whole industry total—and contracted over 70% of Court Line's charter capacity. Its meteoric rise was entirely volume-based. It generated the required volumes by ruthlessly undercutting rivals and outbidding them to win the race for securing accommodation in popular overseas holiday resorts, especially in Spain.[26][28][47][62] Thus, in the early 1970s, a holiday inMallorca or on theCosta del Sol became affordable for the average person for the first time.[1]
Court Line and Clarksons Holidays were also a UK pioneer of the "time charter" concept, whereby the airline entered into a long-term relationship with the tour operator. "Time charter" was modelled on similar long-term arrangements between ship owners andcharterers in theoil tanker business. It resulted in greater economic security for the charter airline industry and enabled it to acquire new aircraft on more favourable terms.[28]
Court Line invented "seat-back" catering, a new concept that permitted a reduction in the amount ofgalley space inside its aircraft's cabins. The extra space obtained was equivalent to three seats on the One-Eleven 400. This enabled it to increaseseating densities and reduce individual seat rates to allow tour operators to hold on to their market shares in a price-sensitive environment.[26][63][64]
The concept itself consisted of pre-packed meals or snacks – usually,Spam salads out and sandwiches back[65] — loaded into a small, two-shelf compartment in the seat back in front of each passenger. The meal/snack for the outbound journey could be found in the top compartment, the one for the return trip in the lower section. The latter contained a pellet of dry ice placed under the plastic food container, thus preventing the food from spoiling. For the airline'scabin staff, it eliminated handling trays while airborne and resulted in a reduction of their workload. To prevent outbound passengers from consuming meals intended for return passengers, locks needed to be installed on the lower compartment that could only be opened by cabin staff during the aircraft's turnaround at the destination airport (although these were not always effective at deterring determined passengers).[56][64][66][67]
In addition to Court Line/Clarksons,Great Universal Stores (GUS) subsidiary Global was a major proponent of "seat-back" catering among the UK's leading contemporary tour operators. It demanded that package holiday costs be driven down to the bare minimum by replacing the traditional meal service on holiday charter flights with something much cheaper that would simply give passengers "a slice of pie". Industry insiders referred to Global's new inflight catering concept asGlobal Pie. The cost advantage industry leaders such as Court Line/Clarksons and Global gained over their rivals as a result of their onboard catering innovation eventually forced every other major UK charter airline to adopt "seat-back" catering on most flights serving short- and medium-haul IT destinations.[68]
In 1973, Court Line took delivery of a pair ofLockheed L-1011 TriStars[69][70] and became the firstEuropean airline to operate theLockheedwidebody.[2][19][61][71][72][73][74] The aircraft were acquired on long-termlease from Airlease International, a consortium of eleven British banks and financial institutions. They were uniquely customised for Court with double-width doors to speed up passenger evacuation and featured integral passenger stairs and baggage conveyors to facilitate operations at smaller airports.[46] The introduction of these brand-new widebodies was a big gamble for a small airline operating in a seasonal market with tight margins as the new jets had four times the One-Eleven's passenger capacity (476 vs 119).
Court took the view with Clarksons that the market would grow and that such large aircraft could be operated profitably. In addition, Clarksons was looking to expand further into cruise holidays and new markets in theUS and theCaribbean.[1][61][73] This, at the time, was wholly new territory for the UK package tour market.
The acquisition ofLeeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT), a regional airline based in the Caribbean, in 1972 was part of Court's long-haul expansion strategy.[75] Court Line provided LIAT with BAC One-Eleven series 500 aircraft for scheduled passenger services in the Caribbean. The BAC One-Eleven was the only jet aircraft type ever operated by LIAT.
The introduction of the TriStar led to an increase in maintenance personnel and the modification of an existing hangar at the airline's Luton base to accommodate the new widebody. It also resulted in the purchase of a formerRoyal Air ForceBlackburn Beverley cargo transporter from theRoyal Aircraft Establishment to airliftRolls-Royce RB211 replacement engines and/or other essential spares in case the planes developed a serious technical fault at an overseas station that prevented them from returning to Luton (although in fact the Beverley was never civil registered and so was never used).[61][73][74]
The airline's total investment in widebodied equipment amounted toUS$55 million.[46]
As early as 1971, Clarksons lost as much as £2.6 million despite increasing its turnover by £9 million to £31 million. Industry sources estimated that this equated to a loss of £4 per head.[76]
In 1972, Clarksons's loss grew to £4.8 million. This was almost 2½ times as much as the combined loss ofThomson Holidays (£1.6 million) andHorizon Holidays (£388,000), its closest rivals.[77]
By 1973, Clarksons carried over a million passengers and accounted for 40% of Court Line's turnover.[46]
During the 1973–74 winter season, Clarksons's plight worsened. At the time, the UK was in the grip of arecession, as a result of the early 1970senergy crisis caused by theOrganization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' oil boycott of the West in the aftermath of the 1973Arab–Israeli War. This was a punitive measure directed against these countries for their support ofIsrael during that war. It led to a drastic reduction in the availability of petroleum products – includingjet fuel. This in turn resulted in a tripling of the oil price in October 1973 and a subsequent quadrupling.[78]
1974 became known as the worst year for the UK package tour industry. At the beginning of the year,Britain plunged into thethree-day working week, as a consequence of the miners' strike that had been called to topple theHeath Government. This immediately reduced package holiday bookings by 30%. Clarksons, Court Line's main customer and in-house tour operator since April 1973, was facing mounting financial pressure, andVladimir Raitz's Horizon Holidays, another of the airline's major customers, collapsed during that time. Following Court Line's takeover of Clarksons the previous year for a nominal £1 (excluding a £3.4 million "subsidy" from the airline'sparent company to cover the tour operator's projected 1973 loss), it purchased theHorizon group'sgoodwill for £600,000—including the acquisition of 58% of Horizon Midlands for £400,000—from theadministrator. The deal, which became effective in February 1974, was based on payment of £1 for each Horizon customer Court Line expected to carry over the following three years. The airline's decision to purchase Clarksons as well as Horizon was intended to protect its business. In reality, these deals did little to help improve Court Line's increasingly bleak prospects.
As soon as Court Line began diverting Horizon customers onto its planes,British Caledonian (BCal) threatened having Horizon compulsorily wound up if Court Line did not agree to settle Horizon's outstanding debts of over £100,000. BCal's threat forced Court Line to sub-charter a fully crewed BCal One-Eleven jet for Horizon's flying programme and to provide it with additional business. In addition to BCal forcing Court Line to compensate it for the loss of Horizon's business, Thomas Cook's money-back guarantee – a scheme widely copied by other rival tour operators – further reduced the number of Horizon holidaymakers travelling on Court Line's jets. As a result, Court Line carried far fewer Horizon customers than it had anticipated.[2][38][54][79][80][81][82] Clarksons's financial position further deteriorated. In a desperate attempt to fill the group's planes and hotel rooms so that it could stay afloat, Clarksons continued selling holiday packages below cost, with a fortnight all-inclusive holiday to Mallorca selling for as little as £50.[1][2][79][83][84]
A deal between the Court Line group and theWilson Government to sell the former's shipyards at Appledore and Sunderland to the latter for £60 million turned out to be "too little too late" to stave off the company's impending collapse.[85]
On 15 August 1974, Court Line went bankrupt, with all flights cancelled, its fleet comprising two TriStars and nine One-Eleven 500s grounded, all 1,150 staff losing their jobs and as many as 49,000 holidaymakers stranded overseas with no means of getting home. To enable stranded holidaymakers to return to the UK at no additional cost to them, the collapsed group's rivals organised an airlift through the Tour Operators' Study Group (TOSG), the package holiday industry association.[2][20][84][86][87] This operation was paid for using the £3.5m bond the failed group's tour operators had deposited with TOSG.[88]
TheAssociation of British Travel Agents (ABTA) set up a fund to provide an insurance against such an event in the future. This was a compulsorybonding scheme for travel companies that transported their customers by air. It was administered by TOSG.[84]
On 16 August 1974, all of the group's UK-based subsidiaries went intovoluntary liquidation. This included Court Line Aviation and Clarksons Holidays.[89]
Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT) in the Caribbean as well asSouth Africa-based Court Line Helicopters were among Court Line's overseas subsidiaries. Both survived the UK parent company's collapse.[2][61][73][89] LIAT subsequently withdrew the BAC One-Eleven series 500 aircraft from its fleet which had been provided by Court Line.
The Court Line Coaches subsidiary, although itself solvent and having most of its work from sources other than Court Line Aviation, was wound up shortly afterwards.Commercial Motor of 23 August 1974 noted that"Court Line's coach fleet continues operations 'for the present'. A go ahead to stay in operation has been given to Court Line Coaches Ltd by Mr Rupert Nicholson, who has been appointed to wind up the Court Line holiday giant which collapsed last week. Court Line Coaches has a fleet of 59 coaches and its managing director Mr Ron Keech told CM on Tuesday that the company has been told it could continue trading. He had however, "no idea" what might happen in a few months' time."
In addition to the early-'70soil crisis and thethree-day week, there were other factors that had caused the collapse of the group of companies that included Court Line and Clarksons.
One of these factors was the parent company's precariously highlygeared investment in the shipping and leisure industry sectors.
According to some insider reports at the time, Court Line Aviation was a viable business. However, a proposedmanagement buyout was rejected as itsliquidation value was needed to pay off the parent company's debts.
TheDepartment of Trade and Industry final report into the Court Line collapse concludes:
"The short answer is that there was no single reason for the collapse, which was caused by a number of contributory factors. Court Line expanded rapidly in many directions, some of which were both logical and justifiable, others not. The overall management was throughout inadequate and it was in any event never supported by the necessary financial control. This meant that as Court Line expanded, it became progressively vulnerable to any substantial setback in any of its areas of activities. When a serious setback occurred, triggered off by the oil crisis of autumn 1973, it immediately affected the shipping, aviation, and leisure divisions. The group was so highly geared, so structured and having such inadequate financial control, that it might well have been brought down by a substantial reverse in any of its major activities. As it was the cumulative effect on all three divisions, when all the cash resources which would otherwise have been available had been invested unprofitably in the Caribbean, meant that the position progressively deteriorated and rendered the collapse in August 1974 unavoidable."
Following the spectacular crash of Court Line and Clarksons at the height of the 1974 holiday season, the failed carrier's fairly new aircraft were acquired by other airlines.Cathay Pacific took the two L-1011 TriStar widebodies whileDan-Air andMonarch Airlines respectively purchased four and two of the One-Eleven 500narrowbodies. These aircraft needed to be re-registered to avoid having them impounded by overseas airport authorities in lieu of the airport user charges Court Line owed them.[91][92][93][94]
| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| BAC One-Eleven 500 | 7 |
| BAC One-Eleven 400 | 1 |
| Total | 8 |
Court Line employed 670 people at that time (as of March 1970).[95]
| Aircraft | Number |
|---|---|
| Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1 | 2 |
| BAC One-Eleven 500 | 9 |
| Total | 11 |
Court Line employed 1,150 people at that time (as of March 1974).[20]
Autair suffered two accidents, one of which involved the loss of lives.[96]
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help) (Kelsey Publishing Group online)
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