Dragonair CEO James Tong Wai-pong foresees a greater role for the youthful airline, the world’s premier regional airline, as a niche operator and a carrier that extends Hong Kong’s brand reach

At 7:57pm on March 17, 1987, Dragonair public relations agent Barry Choi & Associates sent out an announcement: “Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd., has been granted a licence to operate scheduled service to Johor Bahru … for unlimited frequencies for a period of five years.’’ It added that the licence was granted by the Air Transport Licensing Authority, following hearings on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th March.

At the hearings, the then-nascent airline, had contested applications for licences by Cathay Pacific to operate flights to Pacific destinations, North America, Asia, and Australasia. Regardless, ATLA allowed Cathay Pacific to fly to North American and Pacific points – only for two years.

A month earlier, the then-Financial Secretary Piers Jacobs had underlined the local aviation policy, declaring that “ …. the general rule on designation has to be one airline per route. That is the general rule but not the inevitable rule’’. This rule was a hurdle for Dragonair.

That year, oil broke through the US$22 (HK$171) barrier for the first time and visitor arrivals to Hong Kong were forecast at 4.2 million.

Tired of stocks and scared of derivatives? Then, how about corporate bonds issued by Chinese real estate developers? Financial analysts help understand whether debt issues actually make the grade

The just-ended global financial crisis might have had most of us wary of speculative investments for a long, long time to come, but a recent wave of high-yield corporate debt issues by mainland property developers shows there is no shortage of supply to satisfy those with a high risk appetite.

There’s Evergrande Real Estate Group offering five-year corporate bonds with a 13 per cent coupon. Then there’s Fantasia Holdings Group with five-year bonds offering a 14 per cent coupon. And then there’s Kaisa Group Holdings, Agile Property Holdings, Country Garden Holdings, and an array of other Chinese real estate developers offering attractive returns for those bold enough to hold their debt.

Rather than trying to create new information technologies, Hong Kong should quickly adopt advanced ideas in the digital world for the benefit of private and public sectors, Cyberport CEO Herman Lam says

For starters, Hong Kong should focus on the D (for development) side of R&D and leave the research to others, to bring out its true strengths in technology, Cyberport Chief Executive Herman Lam Heung-yeung believes.

“People [sometimes] think, ‘Why don't we have a Hong Kong homegrown Google? Until then, we won’t have an IT industry' ’’ says the newly inducted head of the city's designated technology hub. “But think about finance, [where] Hong Kong doesn't have its own bank.’’ Lam uses the financial sector as an example to say that Hong Kong doesn't always need to boast its own creations to be able to thrive in a particular industry.

“Perhaps Hong Kong has always been good at adopting and applying technology in different industries. Our smart ID is second to none, the Octopus card is second to none,’’ he says.

“The R side of R&D is being done in the [United] States, and mainly in the States, even if you look [across] the globe. We don't necessarily need to be on the research side, but in development, I think it's still a very big market. The pie is big." At least that’s the way Lam thinks Hong Kong can stay ahead of the game.