diff -r dee028db6e9b -r 73bdfa70b04e src/net/fortuna/ical4j/model/TimeZoneRegistryImpl.java
--- a/src/net/fortuna/ical4j/model/TimeZoneRegistryImpl.java	Tue Feb 10 19:25:00 2015 +0100
+++ b/src/net/fortuna/ical4j/model/TimeZoneRegistryImpl.java	Tue Feb 10 19:38:00 2015 +0100
@@ -73,13 +73,19 @@
     private static final Properties ALIASES = new Properties();
     static {
         try {
-        	//ALIASES.load(ResourceLoader.getResourceAsStream("net/fortuna/ical4j/model/tz.alias"));
-        	ALIASES.load(TimeZoneRegistryImpl.class.getResourceAsStream("tz.alias"));
-             }
+            ALIASES.load(ResourceLoader.getResourceAsStream("net/fortuna/ical4j/model/tz.alias"));
+        }
         catch (IOException ioe) {
             LogFactory.getLog(TimeZoneRegistryImpl.class).warn(
                     "Error loading timezone aliases: " + ioe.getMessage());
         }
+        try {
+        	ALIASES.load(ResourceLoader.getResourceAsStream("tz.alias"));
+        }
+        catch (Exception e) {
+        	LogFactory.getLog(TimeZoneRegistryImpl.class).debug(
+        			"Error loading custom timezone aliases: " + e.getMessage());
+        }
     }
 
     private Map timezones;
@@ -180,8 +186,7 @@
      * Loads an existing VTimeZone from the classpath corresponding to the specified Java timezone.
      */
     private VTimeZone loadVTimeZone(final String id) throws IOException, ParserException {
-        //final URL resource = ResourceLoader.getResource(resourcePrefix + id + ".ics");
-        final URL resource = TimeZoneRegistryImpl.class.getClassLoader().getResource(resourcePrefix + id + ".ics");
+        final URL resource = ResourceLoader.getResource(resourcePrefix + id + ".ics");
         if (resource != null) {
             final CalendarBuilder builder = new CalendarBuilder();
             final Calendar calendar = builder.build(resource.openStream());