Leading from the front at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

As the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open takes place, even with limited numbers and with all of the necessary safety measures, it also offers an important sense of normality returning to Irish life.

Any day now I shall be released

I’m going to focus on the soon-to-be-opened rather than the temporarily shuttered here as I think the real story is now one of future renaissance not bleak recent past.

Collinson joins the dots as I return to the skies

The closest I have come to an overseas trip in ten months is via my regular ferry rides between Discovery Bay and Central. Now I can experience the real thing again at last.

How Hong Kong Airport is getting all dressed up and ready for take-off

Better times are coming at this magnificent gateway and the Airport Authority Hong Kong team is more than prepared for them.

No shot in the arm but a stab in the heart

Now, as with so many others around the globe, my plans are – unlike me – up in the air. It sucks but to stay with that not particularly attractive verb, one just has to suck it up.

How Changi Airport turned itself into the ultimate destination

The whole concept is the best example I have seen yet of an airport adapting to crisis and one that has the added benefit of permanently underlining the allure of Changi as a destination in its own right.

Airports

November 22, 2020

Why I ain’t going nowhere

For now, like the bubble itself, the celebratory balloons at Hong Kong International Airport will have to be deflated, the Heinemann welcoming gifts set aside.

Lifestyle

October 29, 2020

Reaching into the sole of sustainability

Let’s not flip-flop in our industry’s commitment to sustainability. Let’s focus on business for good, not just for growth. Let’s show our soul with some sole. Some Ocean Sole.

Airports

September 4, 2020

Kia kaha Canterbury – stay strong

Kia kaha indeed. In these dark COVID-blighted days, it seems as apposite a phrase as it was back in the dark moments of 2010 and 2011.

Airports

July 30, 2020

High ambition at Hamad International, high anxiety in Hong Kong

Thabet is in especially upbeat mood at present thanks to his beloved Liverpool recently being crowned Premiership champions in the UK, their first title in 30 years. I swear I could still see the smile on his face through the face mask he donned during our meeting.

Travel

July 27, 2020

Bravo Heathrow, bravo Qatar Airways, but work required Travelex

This is where we go so wrong so often in the west. A mask is there for a reason. You don’t wear half an oven mitt to protect yourself from burns.

Travel

July 25, 2020

Flying the flag of 2020

Boris Johnson said that the government had “underestimated” the extent of asymptomatic transmission and didn’t fully understand the coronavirus in the “first few weeks and months”. But now, 45,762 deaths later, they do understand. So that’s alright then.

Airports

July 11, 2020

Checking out destination Nowhere and checking in to destination Hong Kong

The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.

Events