Editing Court Line (section)

====Bankruptcy====
A deal between the Court Line group and the [[Harold Wilson#Second period as prime minister (1974–1976)|Wilson 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.<ref>''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... COURT LINE)'', Vol 43, No 7, pp. 37, 39, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, July 2010</ref>

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.<ref name="Bubble"/><ref name="WorldAirlines_1974"/><ref name="Collapse">''High Risk: The Politics of the Air'', Thomson, A., Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1990, pp. 299</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201209.html |title=''Bringing them back home'', World News, Flight International, 22 August 1974, p. 197 |access-date=6 August 2009 |archive-date=19 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019182734/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201209.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... COURT LINE)'', Vol 43, No 7, pp. 39, 40, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, July 2010</ref> This operation was paid for using the £3.5m bond the failed group's tour operators had deposited with TOSG.<ref>''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... COURT LINE)'', Vol 43, No 7, p. 40, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, July 2010</ref>

The [[Association of British Travel Agents]] (ABTA) set up a fund to provide an insurance against such an event in the future. This was a compulsory [[Air Travel Organisers' Licensing|bonding scheme]] for travel companies that transported their customers by air. It was administered by TOSG.<ref name="Collapse"/>

On 16 August 1974, all of the group's UK-based subsidiaries went into [[voluntary liquidation]]. This included Court Line Aviation and Clarksons Holidays.<ref name="CourtLine_VitalStats">{{Cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1975/1975%20-%200547.html |title=''World Airline Directory'', Flight International, 20 March 1975, p. 483 |access-date=19 January 2010 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024053442/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1975/1975%20-%200547.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Leeward Islands Air Transport]] ([[LIAT]]) in the Caribbean as well as [[South Africa]]-based Court Line Helicopters were among Court Line's overseas subsidiaries. Both survived the UK parent company's collapse.<ref name="Bubble"/><ref name="L1011_introduction_540"/><ref name="L1011_introduction_539"/><ref name="CourtLine_VitalStats"/> 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."''