2020-03-01_Forbes_Asia

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FORBES ASIA MARCH 2020

It was his own frustration

with air travel that inspired Malaysian Song Hoi-

see to get into the airport lounge business. “I

founded this business out of my own bad expe-

rience,” says the 62-year-old founder and CEO of

Plaza Premium Group International, which he

launched in 1998.

Today Song’s Plaza Premium—of which he owns

100%—claims to be the world’s largest indepen-

dent airport lounge operator, managing more than

70 lounges in 46 airports in 22 countries across

four continents. Its roughly 5,000 employees serve

more than 16 million passengers annually, nearly

one in every 116 international air travelers.

Despite the coronavirus shock on the trav-

el industry, Song remains optimistic on air trav-

el’s long-term future—after all, he’s already sur-

vived two previous crises, the Asia financial cri-

sis and the SARS outbreak. He is now investing

more than $100 million in an aggressive expan-

sion plan that includes adding airport hotels and

upgrades of existing lounges.

Song’s story is part of a larger one of the trans-

formation of airports from utilitarian way sta-

tions into showcase destinations, especially in the

major hub airports competing with each other in

Asia and the Middle East for passenger traffic.

Sky’s the Limit

ENTREPRENEURS

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

I

Despite the virus threat, SONG HOI-SEE is investing more than $100 million

to expand his Plaza Premium airport lounge empire.

Song Hoi-see of Plaza

Premium says it has

70% market share of

global independent

lounge traffic.