FOR 15 years now the Jetliners - harmoniously led by Sri Lanka's ambassador of song Mignonne Fernando - have kept the feet of tai-tais, taipans, successive governors and countless other guests tapping at the Regent.
Now the longest serving resident band in any venue in town, the musical outfit from the teardrop-shaped island (though these days augmented by a Filipino or two) is as synonymous with their homeland as is the national airline, Air Lanka.
And there the similarity most certainly does not end. For we have discovered that Sunil Peiris, who took up his post as the airline's Hong Kong-based Far East manager a few months ago, played a major part in enabling the Jetliners to come to Hong Kong and take up the offer from the Regent all those years back.
The band's manager Tony Fernando (husband of chanteuse Mignonne) recalled: 'At that time there were strict foreign currency regulations in place in Sri Lanka and our total allocation of dollars wasn't enough to pay for six air tickets from Colombo to Hong Kong.' But Peiris, who was then country manager of Thai Airways, gave the Jetliners their all-important tickets to ride on credit and they were able to head for the Regent - and their own little bit of local musical history.
Incidentally, Peiris - who proudly boasts that his is the only regional airline currently flying the Airbus 340-300 - is now actively engaged in exports of a sporting nature from the territory to Sri Lanka.
Already two rugby teams, three cricket teams and a yachting team from Hong Kong are visiting Sri Lanka under Peiris' patronage.
