Page 14 - Forbes - Asia (March 2020)

ENTREPRENEURS
By Shu-Ching Jean Chen Photographs by Jocelyn Tam for Forbes Asia

Sky’s the Limit

12

Despite the virus threat, SONG HOI-SEE is investing more than $100 million
to expand his Plaza Premium airport lounge empire.

I four continents. Its roughly 5,000 employees serve Song Hoi-see of Plaza

more than 16 million passengers annually, nearly
70% market share of
one in every 116 international air travelers. Premium says it has
global independent
lounge traffic.
Despite the coronavirus shock on the trav-
el industry, Song remains optimistic on air trav-
It was his own frustration el’s long-term future—after all, he’s already sur-
with air travel that inspired Malaysian Song Hoi- vived two previous crises, the Asia financial cri-
see to get into the airport lounge business. “I sis and the SARS outbreak. He is now investing
founded this business out of my own bad expe- more than $100 million in an aggressive expan-
rience,” says the 62-year-old founder and CEO of sion plan that includes adding airport hotels and
Plaza Premium Group International, which he upgrades of existing lounges.
launched in 1998. Song’s story is part of a larger one of the trans-
Today Song’s Plaza Premium—of which he owns formation of airports from utilitarian way sta-
100%—claims to be the world’s largest indepen- tions into showcase destinations, especially in the
dent airport lounge operator, managing more than major hub airports competing with each other in
70 lounges in 46 airports in 22 countries across Asia and the Middle East for passenger traffic.

F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020