Court Line - The Tourist Game-Changer
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- Опубліковано 11 лют 2025
- Hola! :D
In a more colourful outing during this cold winter period, we look at the history of Court Line, a firm which started out as a shipping company during the pre-war era, but would end its days as one of the most popular tourist airlines ever to fly, establishing many pioneering elements in low-cost foreign travel which are still taken for granted today.
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References:
Yesterdays Airlines (and their respective references)
Wrecksite (and their respective references)
Wikipedia (and its respective references)
My first ever plane flight was in 1971 to Girona en route for a holiday at Lloret de Mar. Booked through Clarksons we flew from Luton with Court Line and the plane was Halcyon Sky....happy days.
As a former employee of Horizon Holidays 1973/4 some really interesting history, sad end to a good employer…. Fun time at their Acton res centre……
Some of my earliest flying memories are with this airline going off to ibiza, majorca, and the algarve.
It was always fun as a child to guess in the airport terminal which colour airplane we were going to be on, and of course they are the only airline I ever remember boarding on from the back.
Happy days!
I have fond memories of Court Line (via Clarksons Holidays) as a child in the 70's, flying from Luton to Ibiza on BAC 1-11 aircraft. I loved the different coloured liveries they used, especially the purple one!
Excellent! Your videos are brilliant, I always enjoy your storytelling, so detailed and informative. I'd love to see a video abut British Midland Airways. All the best. 👍
I love his vids, especially the dc8 video. I just wish he would participate in the comments.
@@BobbyGeneric145 Agree! Would be nice to have some engagement on here. I'm sure he's reading the comments. He's brilliant at storytelling!
I well remember G-BAAA/B as a 11-year old aircraft spotter. I definitely had a soft spot for the Tristar, thanks to their cute color schemes. I’ve got a feeling one of them was diverted to Southend Airport once (my house was right under the approach of 06), though I might just be remembering seeing the planes flying over the SND NDB beacon.
Well done. Your videos are well researched, written and narrated. As a student in 1973, I booked a holiday in Greece with the Student Union travel company, who used Court Line. That was my very first trip by air.
Small point of order: when in British service the Douglas C47 was known as the DC3. Carry on!
C47 is the military designation.
@@oldfatbastad6053 More specifically, it's the US military designation. We still called it the DC3, both in military and civil use.
The first time I ever flew in my life was with Court Line from Stuttgart to Luton in April 1973. The aircraft had a typically 1970's gaudy livery with "Court Line" picked out in silver.
My first ever flight was from Luton to RAF Gatow in Berlin, Court Line had a contract with the RAF
they operated out of Luton , they flew over my house multiple times during the day , the colour schemes were awesome , all BAC1-11
In the long hot summer of 1974 i was a student with a temporary summer grass cutting job at Glasgow airport. The Airport was owned by the old Glasgow Corporation at the time and the tractor and vehicular call signs all started with GC followed by a number. The job involved driving tractors with various grass cutting devices attached depending on the grass conditions called Junglebusters, bandits and for the smooth grass between the 7 runway links we used gang mowers. I remember well the early morning beautiful multicoloured Court line BAC 1-11 lining up along with BA Tridents etc ready to take off. It was very sad the company failed and it’s good you have helped cement their place in history for their forward looking achievements - and bringing back happy memories of my youth!
As a kid living on the flight path into Manchester Ringway, it was always cool watching the Court Line Tristars & 1-11s coming in, usually around 5pm & seeing what colour they'd be. Cool time to be into aircraft.
We flew with Court Line on our honeymoon from Luton to Ibiza in 1972 on a Clarkson's holiday.
Very interesting documentary; I'd never heard of this airline before
It was a privilege to be around as a young plane spotter at Luton and see the emergence of Court Line from Autair International and those multi coloured BAC 1-11s. I was uneasy when they purchased the Lockheed Tristars because the airport was so quiet in the winter season. So their demise was a shock but not unexpected after the oil crisis hit. Britannia and Monarch based at Luton survived. But Court Line Aviation was like looking at a fantasy of the future and their ambition was fantastic. Loss of the colourful planes was really sad.
I remember flying to Spain on a Court Line plane, on a Clarkson's holiday, in 1970. It was the first, and only time that I flew from Luton airport. I can't remember the planes name, other than the Halcyon, but I remember it was a light green colour. It was a BAC 111, of course.
we always flew britannia out of luton. taxi into london for the coach, gloucester road maybe. ahh that beautiful smell of jet fuel :)
Ditto, 1971 the plane was Halcyon Sky.
I was on a Court Line L1011 returning from Munchen to Luton when we had to circle around over Munchen because the pilots had a warning that the undercarriage hadn't correctly retracted after takeoff, so we had to burn off some fuel in order to land back at Munchen. It turned out to be a false warning. I've flown on lots of other defunct airlines, including BUA, BEA, Pan Am, Continental, The Hawaii Express, CP Air, and Laker only a few days before they went bust when I was almost the only passenger in a DC10 crossing the Atlantic. Fun times!
CourtLine was among the launch companies for the TriStar.airframe 1001 N1011 the first, carried the CourtLine logo on it's sides.
The Court Line Tristars were also the first aircraft on the British civil register to use the G-BAAA-Z alloctions. G-BAAA and G-BAAB.
Tour operator in financial trouble, 2 new Tristars appear 4/73 and the price of fuel is climbing. The demise was on the horizon. Bang..
It'd be interesting to see your take on Laker Air, Easyjet or Ryanair, and the low cost market in general.
Fascinating stuff, Ruairidh! 👍
especially Laker Airways... the way they utilized DC-10-10 for the trans-atlanctic route is impressive...
@@힐만94 Britannia Airways 👍
Flew Court Line from Bristol to Palma and remember the plane being painted a pastel colour, being welcomed aboard by trendy dressed Air Hostess's and with a pop tune playing that included the words "Wave your knickers in the air"
Really good video. My Mum and Dad took me on holidays to Spain in the 60's and 70's, with Autair and Court Line. That brough back some very happy memories.
I always click on your videos as soon as they show up in my notifications. Great stuff. Such a shame Courtline went under the way they did. Those L1011s were so pretty. Any chance you could do a video on Mearsk Airlines. Bit of an interesting history for that part of the shipping company.
My first ever flight at the age of 14 on a school trip LTN to Varna return. I was lucky to be on the Tristar to. Went on to have a career in aviation from 1978 until 2001. Happy days and no regrets
@simon gray did your career include easyJet by any chance?
@@adarbs6384 It sure did for a brief time at the very beginning. Do we know each other?
@@simongray8019 I think you and Tracey employed me as a flight attendant back in '96 or '97 😂 good times
@@adarbs6384 That's probably right. Tracey and I are still in touch with a few of the originals
@@simongray8019 oh it's definitely you then 😁 I'm Andi Darby, I'm sure won't remember me. What a laugh we all had there, I miss those days so much, but it wouldn't be the same now. Hope you're keeping well.
I remember as a kid seeing a picture of a pink Court Line L-1011 named Halcyon Breeze.
I don’t know why but that name stuck with me.
Another very interesting video, as a twelve year old in 1974 when it collapsed I’ve never heard of the Court Line
I remember Courtline well, they always had bright coloured planes in different colours.
Fascinating thankyou, the Court Line story is completely new to me even though I'm 68 so would have been twenty when they went bust. However I didn't go abroad by plane until the late seventies/early eighties so missed this entirely somehow.
I fly on a Orange 1-11 Barcelona to Manchester, I think 1973. The meals were pre-placed in the back of the passenger seats.
Thanks Ruairidh for this memory. I worked for Court Line at Luton for about 18 months until just before the collapse (I saw it coming). Great video.
Fascinating. Never seen any plane with this livery, not even in films or tv of the time. I assume it was exclusively at Luton Airport.
You can see a Court Line take off in an episode of the 70s adventure series 'The Protectors' which parts were filmed at Luton Airport.
That big C on the tailplane was the culmination of the Clarkson tour operators involved in the scandal of overseas hotel bookings 1972-73. You flew out to the destination to find the hotel fully booked, predominantly booked by the Germans so many holidays were ruined by the double booking scandal and Court writs. So, Clarksons were in the mire with trade falling off to rival tour operators so Courtline made the decision to buy the group out as they were their main carriers for Clarkson. Oil prices were climbing higher, they took delivery of 2 new Tristars, 4/73, both had teething problems but had 400 seats each compared to the 1-11s with 120. Meanwhile the price of fuel and the falling off of bookings was a massive issue and the inevitable happened in August 1974. I left the airline in 1973, too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
Really excellent history as alway, sir.
Whilst I'd heard of Court Line in connection with the TriStar, the relative obscurity of your subject matter, combined with your depth of knowledge and presentation style, never ceases to make your videos interesting. Will you ever produce a video about Rover Group or, more specifically, the SD1?
Today I discovered and fell in love with the Blackburn Beverley. Fell down a google rabbit hole, and that’s going to be my next plane portrait.
Think you will find your "rabbit hole" at Birchwood Lodge last known home of your Beverley
Can you do Maersk air next?
From what i hear they were testbed for the 737sp package.
Their routes to Vagar especially was challenging
The Court Line L-1011 TriStar Halcyon Breeze - Tristar - probably one of the best airliners to fly in ever :)
Very interesting video Luton is my local Airport I flew with Autair while still at school on one of there Ambassador aircraft. And during my time in the Air Training Corps Autair offered us a Viking Cockpit for display at the Squadron HQ, although sadly this never happened. I also flew with Court Line on both the Bac111 and TriStar. 👍
lol $55Mil in for L1011, someone got a nice bonus that year, plus the cost of maintenance for just 2 L1011s was IMO the nail in the coffin for this airline.
Yes well done show today...thanks
I flew for the first time with Autair for a Clarksons Holiday from Luton. The plane a 1-11 gave the a very smooth landing, who ever the pilot was up to the mark.
I always wondered what really happened. I never knew this. The one and only time I saw and found out about Court Lines was at RNAS Culdrose airday where a BAC 1-11 attended the display line, so that must have been in 1973 or 4. My guess is was Court Lines showing off it's aircraft at UK airshows in a publicity drive to drum up customers. It certainly made a visual impression as one of the last aircraft to take off at the end of the day in its' bright yellow livery and seeing a civilian airliner depart from the local military airfield was a novelty in itself. Cut throat business package tour operations !
My first ever jet flight was on a Court Line BAC 1-11 from Luton to Madrid in April 1973, and back on a BEA Airtours Comet 4B
There were many shipping companies involved in Air Lines. Davies and Newman (Dan Air), Cunard Line.
The Liberty Ships of WW2 were copied a Court Line Design
Excellent. Thank You
Court line wreck is still off Durban, and a reasonably popular diving spot, though it is well rusted away by now.
We were on the last flight out of Spain (Benidorm I think) when they went bust. Just got out before the aircraft was seized.
damn. i think we was on Court Line and they went bellup the following week after we got back.
Thank you for the very informative video about this airline they may have been forgotten by time past and new generations like myself.
That Airspeed Ambassador is a sight to behold...
I remember around 40 years ago seeing some crated Autair Westland Whirlwind helicopters lined up inside the largest hanger at Panshanger airfield.
An existing hangar was modified at Luton to accommodate the Tristar
Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸
Court Line did not themselves provide 'low cost vacations'. They were a holiday charter airline which carried the passengers of the tour operators who provided the 'low cost vacations'.
Court Line were probably the Ryanair of the UK holiday charter airlines with a very 'cheap and cheerful' reputation who flew mainly from Luton Airport. (Those of a certain age will understand the 'Luton Airport' reference in this context). The 'seat back' catering described, also offered by certain other charter airlines, but fortunately resisted by the better holiday charter airlines, for example Britannia and BEA Airtours/British Airtours, was disgusting and eventually banned for hygene reasons.
British Caledonian were NOT a rival airline 'specialising in low cost holidays to Europe and beyond'. Airlines don't sell package holidays - tour operators do. British Caledonian was the 2nd largest scheduled airline in the UK formed by the merger of the charter airline Caledonian and the scheduled service carrier BUA. BCAL operated an extensive network of high quality scheduled services to destinations including East Africa and South America and certainly did not have low cost associations. BCAL did operate a number of holiday charter flights for which they had a small dedicated fleet of BAC-1-11 aircraft equipped with high density seating.
I believe that you are crediting Court Line with too much here. They were nothing more than one of many airlines which provided holiday charter flights on behalf of the UK package holiday tour operators, other airlines including Monarch, Dan-Air, Channel Airways, Britannia, Laker, British Eagle, BEA Airtours/British Airtours etc. It would have been the tour operators, not the airlines, who made holidays affordable and such affordable holidays were available from around the mid 1960's.
The video says Clarkson's provided the vacation and Court Line did the flights.
I wonder how many times these stairs failed…Looks like a maintenance nightmare😂
I was only 11 at the time, but I do remember the news reports of Court Line's demise.
One obvious mistake that I felt the need to point out.
It was mentioned in the final part of the video that a British Caledonian Airways McDonnel Douglas DC-10 was used 😳
British Caledonian Airways hadn't received their first McDonnel Douglas DC-10-30 G-BEBM until February 1977. Over two and half years after the bankruptcy of Court Line.
British Caledonian Airways first McDonnel Douglas DC-10-30 G-BEBM took it's inaugural flight on March 13 1977 from London Gatwick Airport to Lagos Nigeria 🇳🇬
British Caledonian Airways did indeed fly on behalf of Horizon Holidays but with their fleet of BAC 1-11s and Boeing 707-320Bs. The airline had placed an order with McDonnel Douglas in 1976 for three DC-10-30 aircraft.
The British charter airline Laker Airways on the other hand had three McDonnel Douglas DC-10-10s in service by the time that Court Line and Clarksons Holidays went bankrupt.
I'm sure that you meant a Laker Airways McDonnel Douglas DC-10-10 rather than a British Caledonian Airways example 🙄
But nonetheless I always enjoy your excellent uploads even with the odd errors but I'm not complaining 😉
Although we usually went on Britannia Airways(worthy of a video itself :) ) we did go with another airline one year which collapsed 1 week after we got home. Might have been Court Line. Think its aircraft were beigey or similar.
The other major operator was Dan Air. Of the two I think you are more likely to be talking about Court Line.
@@vespasian606 certain it wasnt dan air. cheapo spanish holiday. got a feeling it was a 707, might not be. i slightly remember entering up the back stairs in the tail.
got great memories of britannias 737s and their changing liveries. love the old all white with blue stripe then the later red white and blue :)
Great vlog as always! This is a true blue print that will happend in 2008? With the Excel air major belly up. Will you do an episode on that too? Keep up the good work. I miss Britannia airways. They had to pay a 25% surcharge to the UK gov. because they bought the U.S. made Boeing 737 instead of going local and buying british and then ending up with something did not fit your airline. Go figure.
My very first trip abroad was on a Court Line Tristar to Rimini Italy, a year later the company collapsed.
Was that an E-boat around 2:30?
Flew 'Halcyon Days' to Palermo in 1973!
Will Carnival Air Lines be discussed in the future?
Southwest Airlines were very inspired by their first livery, almost identical.
True.
Ok, that's it, I cannot hold off any longer. What is the correct pronunciation of Ruairidh? Is it Welsh or Irish?
Neither. It's Scottish Gaelic. It is pronounced 'Rory'.
@@egpx Please accept my apology for being so ignorant
Looks like southwest long lost airline
Spam salad? I hope they invented the vommit bag as well.
bloody awful, pass the bucket.
Court line planes used to look brilliant totally different to everyone else.
As soon as I heard the word “vacation” from a northern Englishman. Enough, gone.
Perhaps Braniff had a similar spark, but travelled a wholly different road to doom...
LIAT - Luggage in Another Time zone....
Its funny I'm of an age that I don't really remember the airline, the main thing I remember about them is the pilot who many years later was convicted of killing him wife
It all seemed too far fetched at the time but failure is a UK specialty. We only have to look as close as Prince Andrew!
You're voice is insane
Another great video.
Please consider changing your channel name.. This channel has come up a few times for me in conversation with friends, but I have been unable to recite the channel name. You are missing out on potential channel growth.
BAC 111 G-AVOF. Flew for the first time in that from Luton to Girona in Spain in 1968
LIAT.
they went under last year.
Roddy? Rory? I'm so sorry I'm an Australian. Please forgive my arrogance
Can you make a video about China's high-speed rail (CRH)? China has built the world's longest high-speed rail network.
He only does older stuff.
Spam salads? I'll never complain about modern discount airlines again.
8:42 Nowadays serving Spam isnt such a profitable business desicion
Aviateca bought 2 liat bac 111
Ah, yes… spam! Q the spam song 🤣
Queue.
@@cityofabscissae Cue
@@HertsCommuter, both spellings are acceptable in this context, I was just assisting the individual in choosing one and at least getting the spelling right.
All- crisis is oil-crisis in Ruairidh speak.
I heard "OIL CRISIS" not "ALL CRISIS" and yes I listened to it several times
why on earth would you tell us that the early owner was a British Jew? Why would you do that? Would you tell me if he was a Catholic ,protestant Episcopalian? I’m really interested in hearing your answer.
Autistic Air shoulda went with C-46's.
Autair*
I thought it was Autism Air. LOL