British Airways has had to do a U-turn over dropping the Union Flag from its tailfins

Last week BA accused Singapore Airlines of copying certain aspects of its first-class sleeper-style seats and demanded that they remove them.

BA is reportedly also seeking damages from Singapore Airlines for infringing its patents.

Singapore Airlines have responded by lodging a writ against BA, accusing its arch rival of making groundless threats of patent infringement.

"If one has patent rights they have to be protected," British Airways Chief Executive Robert Ayling told reporters in Singapore.

Unique bed technology

British Airways introduced its six-foot six-inch flat, flying bed in 1996.

Mr Ayling said: "The bed was of a unique design and involved unique technology in its development.

"As is normal in the industry today, the uniqueness of the design and the technology were protected by patents in a number of jurisdictions."

Singapore Airlines introduced its first-class "bed in the sky" in September.

The company has refused to comment since June 4, when it issued a statement saying: "We have patented our own first-class seatbeds in Singapore and have been advised by our legal counsel in Singapore and Britain that we have not infringed the BA patent."

Battle with Virgin

BA's battle of the sky beds is also being fought on another front.

Richard Branson, the colourful head of BA's rival Virgin Atlantic, has vowed to come up with a unique feature - a twin seat that transforms into a double bed in Business Class.

British Airways Chief Executive Robert Ayling

But Mr Ayling remains unfazed, vowing that BA will come up with a unique product of its own within the year.

"It is a flat horizontal bed. As far as I am aware there is no flat horizontal bed in the market," he said.

"It is a bed which is configured so that one passenger faces forward and the other passenger faces aft, and in that way passengers do not have to sleep next to each other.

"According to to our research, the vast majority of Business Class passengers do not want to sleep next to each other and we are confident that we will have the best product in the market," he said.

Business class rivalry

The contest over sky beds underscores fierce competition in the high-yielding First Class and Business Class markets.

"The premium cabins are a minority of customers but in some cases are a majority of the revenues. They are very important," he said.

Times are hard for BA, which late last month announced its lowest profits since the deep recession of the early 1990s.

Pre-tax profits contracted by 61% in financial 1998-99 to £225m ($360m).

BA has also reversed a decision two years ago to project a worldly, outward-looking image to travellers around the world by painting multi-colored designs on its tailfins.