Court Line
Court Line was a 20th-century British tramp shipping company that was founded in 1905. In the 1960s it diversified into shipbuilding and charter aviation. Its merchant shipping interests were based in London. Its shipyards were at Appledore in Devon and Sunderland in Tyne and Wear. Its airline was based at Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It also provided bus services in Luton and surrounding areas.
Its airline helped pioneer the concept of "cheap and cheerful" package tours to Spain and other destinations in the Mediterranean in conjunction with Clarksons 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 subsidiary tour operators, Clarksons Travel Group and Horizon Travel, ceased trading on 15 August 1974, with at least £7 million owing to 100,000 holidaymakers.
Shipping
Philip Haldinstein was a British Jewish businessman from Norwich. He founded the tramp shipping company Haldinstein and Co Ltd in 1905. Robert Stephenson and Company launched Haldinstein's first ship, Arlington Court, at Hebburn on the River Tyne that October.Between 1906 and 1912 Haldinstein added several new steamships from shipyards on the Tyne and the River Wear. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Haldinstein & Co had a fleet of seven ships and was operating as Court Line, Ltd. Anti-German sentiment arose in Britain in the war, so in 1915 Haldinstein shortened his surname to Haldin.
In 1915 Haldin bought a second-hand ship, Dalebank, which he renamed Ilvington Court. In 1917 a U-boat sank Ilvington Court in the Mediterranean, killing eight of her crew. Haldin sold several ships between 1916 and 1921, reducing his fleet to only two ships: Geddington Court and Hannington Court.
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 the Shipping 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.
In 1926 Haldin registered his fleet under the name United British Steamship Co Ltd. In 1929 Richard Philipps, the youngest brother of Owen 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. In 1939 Haldin was made a Knight Bachelor.
In 1937 Court Line lost two ships. Nollington Court sank in the Caribbean after striking a submerged object. Less than a fortnight later, Quarrington Court sank in the Red Sea after springing a leak in a water intake in her engine room.
When the Second World War began in 1939, Haldin & Philipps Ltd had a fleet of 23 ships. In the war it lost 14 ships, 13 of them to enemy action, with the loss of 136 lives. One ship,, was lost with all hands.
From 1940 onward Haldin & Philipps started to manage some Empire ships for the Ministry 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. Haldin died in 1953, aged 73.
From 1952 onward Haldin & Co started to buy new ships again. In the 1960s the fleet diversified into tankers. The first was Edith Borthen, which Haldin bought in 1963 and renamed Halcyon Days. The second was Halcyon Breeze, which Hitachi built for Court Line in Japan in 1964. The Admiralty chartered Halcyon Breeze as the oiler. All Court Line tankers were named in the same "Halcyon —" style.
In 1964 Court Line bought Appledore Shipbuilders in Devon. In 1972 it took over a larger shipbuilding business, the Doxford and Sunderland Group. When the Court Line group went bankrupt in 1974, the shipyards and remaining ships in the fleet were sold.
Aviation
Autair
The airline, originally named Argus Air Transport, was formed at London Luton Airport in 1957. In 1960, it became Autair . On 27 September 1963, it changed to Autair International Airways.Image:Douglas C-47A G-AGHJ Autair RWY 06.62 edited-2.jpg|thumb|right|Douglas DC-3 of Autair at Manchester in 1962
Image:Vickers Viking 1 G-AHPB Autair AMS 14.03.67 edited-4.jpg|thumb|right|Autair Vickers Viking freighter at Amsterdam in March 1967
Autair started as a division of Autair Helicopters, a helicopter operator established in the early 1950s. It began public transport operations with an ex-British European Airways Douglas DC-3, used on contract work for other airlines. More DC-3s and Vickers Vikings were bought. The first of the latter joined the fleet in 1962. Both types operated freight and passenger services, including a growing number of inclusive tour flights.
One of the earliest charter customers for Autair's DC-3s was ex-naval officer Tom Gullick, who would later head Clarksons. Clarksons began its relationship with Autair by contracting the airline's Vikings to ferry day-trippers between up to ten UK departure points and Rotterdam during the Dutch bulbfield season. Airspeed Ambassadors and a leased Handley Page Herald were introduced in 1963. The former were the airline's first pressurised aircraft while the latter was its first turboprop.
On 1 October 1963, the airline commenced scheduled services between Blackpool and Luton with Vikings. The route was subsequently operated with Ambassadors and extended to Glasgow on 24 May 1966.
In the following years, all piston-engined aircraft types were withdrawn and replaced with Hawker Siddeley 748 and Handley Page Herald turboprops. Three Heralds operated the company's scheduled services, including the main London—Teesside route.
1960 saw the formation of Clarksons Tours with Tom Gullick as managing director. Over the next few years, Clarksons would become Autair's and its successor Court Line's most important tour operator customer.
In April 1965 Court Line bought Autair's entire share capital for £215,000.
Image:BAC 1-11 416EK G-AWXJ Autair Intnl Ringway 26.07.69 edited-2.jpg|thumb|right|Autair International BAC One-Eleven 416EK G-AWXJ at Manchester in July 1969.
Autair became a jet operator in 1968, when three brand-new BAC One-Eleven 400 series joined its fleet. The new jets mainly operated IT flights.
1968 was also the year Clarksons' customer base had grown to 175,000, many of whom flew to their holiday destination on Autair's new jets.
By spring 1969, five One-Eleven 400s operated Autair's IT flights, primarily under contract to Clarksons Tours. 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.
From 1 April 1969, the airline's scheduled operation in London was consolidated at Heathrow, joining Teesside services which had already transferred to London's premier airport from the company's Luton base on 1 November 1967.
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 served Belfast, Blackpool, Carlisle, the Channel Islands, Dundee, Glasgow, Hull, the Isle of Man, London and Teesside in the UK, Dublin in the Republic of Ireland and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Scheduled services accounted for 12% of Autair's turnover. The airline's scheduled operation was estimated to have generated an annual loss of £150,000.
On 31 October 1969, scheduled services were stopped and all turboprop aircraft sold. This was followed by an order for seven of the larger 119-seat 500 series One-Eleven.
Court Line Aviation
To coincide with the arrival of the first BAC One-Eleven 500, the airline changed its name on 1 January 1970 to Court Line Aviation and introduced a new corporate look and strategy that focused exclusively on the then fast-growing package holiday market. As the larger One-Eleven 500s were delivered, all but one of the smaller, former Autair 400 series One-Elevens were retired.The corporate look was an all-over colour design by Peter Murdoch. In keeping with the holiday "feel-good factor", One-Elevens were painted in the following distinctive, eye-catching pastel colour combinations: yellow/gold/orange, pink/rose/magenta, pale violet/mauve/purple, light green/mid-green/forest green. As with the tankers in the shipping fleet, the aircraft were named Halcyon Breeze, Halcyon Skies, Halcyon Days, etcetera. Aircrew wore trendy uniforms designed by Mary Quant. This was part of making passengers feel that the flight was a "fun part" of their holiday. 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. Under Tom 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. Thus, in the early 1970s, a holiday in Mallorca or on the Costa del Sol became affordable for the average person for the first time.
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 and charterers in the oil tanker business. It resulted in greater economic security for the charter airline industry and enabled it to acquire new aircraft on more favourable terms.