THE fledgling airline owned by the world's youngest aviator is today at the centre of a mystery dirty tricks campaign.

It is the latest controversy to hit Martin Halstead's Alpha One Airways, which is poised to run services between Southampton and the Isle of Man on a leased plane.

As previously reported, the 19-year-old pilot's airline has already suffered business turbulence caused by administrative problems, including an online booking system that failed to work.

The scheduled flights between here and the Isle of Man, due to begin today, have had to be postponed until early next year.

Now, in the latest setback, Alpha One has fallen foul of website trickery.

Potential customers viewing the airline's website have been falsely directed to an obsolete one belonging to unsuspecting budget carrier Flybe.

Flybe bosses - unaware of what was going on in their name - were alerted by the Daily Echo.

A full investigation is now under way by the company, which runs scores of international flights to and from Southampton Airport, into how the www.flyalphaone.com wesbite address ended up looping to Flybe.

One insider in the regional aviation industry said: "It all smacks of a dirty tricks campaign from someone.

"This is an enterprising 19-year-old who has one 18-seat aircraft - it is hardly British Airways versus Virgin Atlantic. He has even had hate mail."

A Flybe spokesman said: "Flybe would like to confirm that we are not involved with the www.flyalphaone.com website that has come to our attention today. We will be launching a full investigation into this issue."

Halstead was said to be "upset" by the cyber sabotage. Halstead's airline, which has so far had one flight, with the media and his mother, has already generated heated exchanges on the Internet.

A website, devoted to rumours from professional pilots, shows various messages between aviation bloggers.

One calls him a "little upstart," while another said he has "eggs all over his face". However, one blogger accused them of being "vindictive", adding: "Wish him luck and leave him alone. I, for one, hope it works."

Halstead's ambitions are said to have rattled cages because he wants to service routes considered too small for the larger airlines. The erroneous website, which was due to be removed after action by Flybe, was called up when customers typed in www.flyalphaone.com instead of the correct www.flyalpha1.com.