Anyone here fly on Court Line (one of the first low cost tourist airlines in the UK)?

[OnTheBranchline]

I found this video on Youtube and it was interesting to learn about the rise and fall of the airline.

 

Not sure how I would feel about being served a spam salad though 🤔.

 

Court Line - The Tourist Game-Changer

[Bernard Lamb]

At one time they flew to Berlin.

I did use them once, that must have been around 1973.

I do remember that they were not very reliable, delays and diversions being quite common, so did not use then again. Thet did not last long after that anyway.

Bernard

[298]

Does anyone remember this regional airline? 

 

 

 

 

 

[spamcan61]

Never used them, but living near(ish)  Luton airport and being a bit of a plane spotter in the 70s I certainly saw plenty of their distinctive aircraft.

[Jim Martin]

I flew from, I guess, Luton to Alicante with them. I remember that the in-flight brochures made quite a lot of the striking liveries carried by their aircraft (pastel stripes). The plane was a BAC1-11, I think.

 

I don't remember anything at all about the food. Whatever it was, good or bad, mine would have ended up in the sick bag. I suffered from air sickness something awful when I was a kid.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Jim Martin
Colourful commentary about airline food

[VIA185]

My girlfriend (later my wife) flew to Switzerland from Luton with them on a staff outing from the MAFF at Weybridge soon after she started work. They had orange, pink and mauve aeroplanes and the crew dressed to match whatever coloured plane they were on that day. Bizarre. Very 1960s. (CJL)

 

[Metr0Land]

[RANGERS]

The group had fingers in all manner of transport activities, road, air and sea. Never flew on any of their flights but did travel on one of their coaches after it had been disposed of following the collapse, a 1973 L reg Ford R226 Duple Dominant. It passed to a local operator after the Court Line collapse who my school used regularly for trips and retained the three tone green scheme it arrived in for many years. The coach fleet was multi coloured just like the aircraft, each in shades of either yellow, green, pink or blue.

 

When Richard Branson started Virgin Atlantic, he wanted to pay homage to his predecessors in the industry and intended to name the second Virgin aircraft Spirit of Sir Freddie, after Freddie Laker, but was discouraged from associating a fledgling business with a famous failure. Ultimately it was named Scarlet Lady and which its thought was a more subtle tribute to another predecessor in Court Line, who had named their pioneering Tristar “Pink Lady”. 

[jjb1970]

A few airlines have gone for bright colours, perhaps most famously Braniff. It was a nicer era for airline liveries than euro white which seemed to take over much of the industry, though things seem to have improved a bit and with a bit more colour flying around.