Doppelganger airlines take jabs at each other

A Singapore-based airline has accused Florida-based Spirit Airlines of stealing its identity. But instead of filing a lawsuit, the carrier from the island nation is poking fun at its ultra-low-cost doppelganger.

In September, Spirit Airlines unveiled its new paint scheme for its planes — bright yellow paint with black lettering.

At the time, Spirit Chief Executive Ben Baldanza called the color scheme “radically different from other airlines, and it’s fun, just like we are.”

But Scoot airline, which launched in 2012, says the design and some of Spirit’s advertising ideas are nearly identical to Scoot’s colors and designs.

To poke fun at Spirit, Scoot recently named one of its planes “Inspiring Spirit.”

“We were flattered to see that we had inspired the look, tone and style of Spirit’s branding,” said Scoot Chief Executive Campbell Wilson.

Spirit Airlines is taking the whole matter in stride.

“Any similarities are pure coincidence,” Spirit spokesman Paul Berry said.

He added: “It should be noted that neither Scoot nor Spirit is the first company to use yellow as brand colors – although Scoot seems to be more orange than yellow.”

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