'Dog fight' over airways name

The Gloucestershire Tiger Airways was set up nearly three years ago

A small British firm which operates vintage bi-planes has started an international battle over its trade name.

Tiger Airways runs pleasure flights and lessons from Gloucestershire Airport.

Ryanair and Singapore Airlines are planning to create another Tiger Airways, a budget airline which will operate in South East Asia.

The UK company has sent a formal objection to the airlines' application to register the trademark.

The small Tiger Airways was set up in October 2001 at its Staverton base by Chris Rollings and his partner Tizi Hodson.

It takes its name from the 1930s vintage bi-plane, the Tiger Moth.

The company offers lessons in flying open cockpit, two-seater planes designed in the same decade.

Internet fears

Later this year, Singapore Airlines and Anthony Ryan, the founder of European budget airline Ryanair, are due to launch a no-frills Asian carrier also to be called Tiger Airways.

The company has applied to the European Union's Trade Marks and Designs section of the Office for the Harmonisation of the Internal Market to register the name as a trademark.

The Gloucestershire firm, which has applied to register its name as a UK trademark, fears they could lose customers, particularly those using the internet.

Mr Rollings, the company's flight operations director, says his case is that he has an "earlier non-registered mark" and an "earlier well-known mark".

He is using copies of advertisements in newspapers and magazines and brochures about his firm to support his objection to the airlines' registration application.

A spokesman for Singapore Airlines said the company was aware of the situation which was in the hands of the lawyers who were "looking to resolve it".