Court Line
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| Founded | 1957 (as Argus Air Transport) | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 1974 | ||||||
| Hubs |
London Luton Airport |
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| Fleet size | 14 aircraft (2 Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1, 9 BAC One-Eleven 500, 1 Hawker Siddeley HS 125, 1 Bell JetRanger, 1 Cameron 0-84 Balloon) as of March 1974 |
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| Destinations | worldwide | ||||||
| Headquarters |
Central London (1957—1970) London Luton Airport (1970—1974) |
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| Key people | John R. Young, Edward J. Posey, G.H.G. Threlfall, W.H. Armstrong |
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Court Line Aviation was a prominent British holiday charter airline during the early 1970s based at Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It also provided bus services in Luton and surrounding areas.
It helped pioneer the concept of "cheap and cheerful" package tours to Spain and other destinations in the "Med" in conjunction with Clarksons Holidays, thus taking part in the establishment of a whole new way of holidaymaking for the British public.
The airline, its parent company and its 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.
The airline, originally named Argus Air Transport, was formed at London Luton Airport in 1957. In 1960, it became Autair (Luton). On 27 September 1963, it changed to Autair International Airways.
Autair started as a division of Autair Helicopters, a helicopter operator established in the early 1950s. (Autair's helicopter interests were subsequently hived off into a separate company.) It began public transport operations with an ex-British European Airways (BEA) 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 (IT) flights.
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