Editing Court Line (section)

{{Short description|English shipping and airline group, 1905–1974}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox airline
| image_size = 255
| airline = Court Line
| image = File:Court Line Logo, March 1974.svg
| IATA = none
| ICAO = OU
| callsign = COURTLINE
| aoc = 
| hubs = [[London Luton Airport]]
| focus_cities = 
| frequent_flyer = 
| fleet_size = 11
| destinations = 
| company_slogan = 
| parent = 
| num_employees = 
| founded = {{start date and age|1905}}<br/><small>(as shipping company)</small><br/>{{start date and age|1957}}<br/><small>(as Argus Air Transport)</small>
| ceased = {{end date and age|1974}}
| headquarters = [[London]] (1905–1970)<br>London Luton Airport<br>(1970–1974)
| key_people = Sir Philip Haldin,<br>John R Young,<br>Edward J Posey,<br>GHG Threlfall,<br>WH Armstrong
}}

'''Court Line''' was a 20th-century British [[Tramp trade|tramp]] shipping company that was founded in 1905. In the 1960s it diversified into [[shipbuilding]] and [[Air charter|charter aviation]]. Its merchant shipping interests were based in [[Port of London|London]]. Its [[shipyard]]s were at [[Appledore, Torridge|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 tour]]s to [[Spain]] and other destinations in the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] in conjunction with [[Clarksons Travel Group|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 operator]]s, [[Clarksons Travel Group]] and [[Horizon Travel]], ceased trading on 15 August 1974, with at least [[pounds sterling|£]]7 million owing to 100,000 holidaymakers.<ref name="end_of_the_line">{{Cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201207.html |title=''The Court failure'', Flight International, 22 August 1974, editorial page |access-date=16 January 2010 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024035524/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201207.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Bubble">{{Cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201210.html |title=''The bubble bursts'', Air Transport, Flight International, 22 August 1974, p. 198 |access-date=2 May 2009 |archive-date=27 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527145039/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201210.html |url-status=live }}</ref>