diff --git a/autoload/airline/extensions/tabline.vim b/autoload/airline/extensions/tabline.vim
index 9700023b..52cf19bb 100644
--- a/autoload/airline/extensions/tabline.vim
+++ b/autoload/airline/extensions/tabline.vim
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ function! airline#extensions#tabline#new_builder()
     let builder_context.left_alt_sep = get(g:, 'airline#extensions#tabline#left_alt_sep' , '|')
   endif
 
-  return airline#builder#new(builder_context)
+  return airline#extensions#tabline#builder#new(builder_context)
 endfunction
 
 function! airline#extensions#tabline#group_of_bufnr(tab_bufs, bufnr)
diff --git a/autoload/airline/extensions/tabline/builder.vim b/autoload/airline/extensions/tabline/builder.vim
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..681026f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/autoload/airline/extensions/tabline/builder.vim
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+" MIT License. Copyright (c) 2013-2018 Bailey Ling et al.
+" vim: et ts=2 sts=2 sw=2
+
+scriptencoding utf-8
+
+let s:prototype = {}
+
+function! airline#extensions#tabline#builder#new(context)
+  let builder = airline#builder#new(a:context)
+  call extend(builder, s:prototype, 'force')
+  return builder
+endfunction