Our regular feature celebrates memorable scenes, moments, launches and campaigns related to the global aviation and travel retail sphere.
HONG KONG, CHINA. Now here are some pictures worth making a Song and dance over. I took them outside the Plaza Premium Lounge at Hong Kong International Airport today as I stopped in for a bite to eat just before my flight to Singapore, writes Martin Moodie.
Outside the entrance I discovered what surely must rank as the coolest buggies in the whole airport world. So cool in fact that I couldn’t resist the opportunity – courtesy of a very kind Plaza Premium Lounge reception manager – to have my photo taken at the wheel of one of these beautiful vehicles.
You will notice the two number plates. One (Song) is a reference to the family behind Plaza Lounge and in particularly its charismatic Founder and Chief Executive Officer Song Hoi See, one of the great entrepreneurs of the aviation industry.
The other is 8888, which to the Chinese people conveys an array of positive feelings, including good fortune, wealth, and financial stability. Song Hoi See has achieved all those things in his remarkable career, and his company has emerged from a pandemic that could easily have ruined the business in robust shape, thanks in no small part to the kind of innovation epitomised by these brilliant buggies.
This is what I call making the airport an integral and enjoyable part of the whole travel journey. Who knows, after a nicely chilled Chardonnay pre-flight, I might just book a ride. “Driver, to Singapore please!”
I am headed to Singapore, of course, for The Trinity Forum, where both Mr Song and his son Jonathan, who is the company’s Global Director, Business Development, will be in attendance. Plaza Premium Group is one of the four finalists in The Trinity Challenge and Jonathan will be pitching another of the company’s latest innovations to the judges live.
Knowing the company’s sense of innovation, I wouldn’t be surprised if he drives up to the stage in a spectacular airport buggy with a very familiar number plate.
