Yesterday may well have been the biggest day for removers in the history of Hong Kong, with all of the airport shifting shenanigans - but not for one business whose fortunes were closely tied to those of Kai Tak. The Regal Airport Hotel quietly changed its name to the Regal Kai Tak Hotel at exactly midnight on Sunday night. Your correspondent attended a Lufthansa dinner function at the hotel that night to see out the old airport, and thought it must have been tipsiness when the name of the establishment changed before his eyes. But no, it turned out a 'one night, two hotels' policy had been put in place to account for when the last aircraft roared out of Kai Tak. Despite the name change, management is clearly having airport withdrawal symptoms. A spokesman said the establishment will run an hourly shuttle bus service to Chek Lap Kok for guests until its sister Regal hotel opens at the new airport in October or November. We asked whether Regal was still treating the Kai Tak establishment as an airport hotel. 'Kind of,' the spokesman replied. It is, after all, a mere 35-kilometre stroll away. How were the first 'official' passengers to arrive at the new airport chosen? As we all now know, Andrew and Rhian Little were the first passengers off the first flight to arrive at the new airport yesterday. Upon greeting a media army, they proceeded to unleash a string of superlatives about both the non-stop Cathay Pacific flight from New York - which passed over the North Pole - and the new airport. Nice publicity indeed! In light of this, it was fascinating to hear that Mr Little had a key role to play in the record-breaking flight. It emerged yesterday that he was the official observer for the trans-Arctic express. His role was apparently to time the flight for the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. A convenient coincidence? We're not sure. Lai See rang Cathay about the selection process for the 'first passenger', but, alas, our calls were not returned. Raspberry dispensing time. Our sources tell us there is one employer in Hong Kong who should be hanging his head in shame over what would have been a welcome treat for his domestic helper involving the new airport. We're informed a Filipina amah was one of the lucky winners of a Wellcome competition offering a free return flight to Manila that departed from Chek Lap Kok yesterday, and included a couple of nights' accommodation. A grand homecoming seemed to be beckoning. There was just one problem: getting permission from her employer to go away. That proved to be the undoing of the big trip, as he was apparently not able to spare her - even for a couple of days. She therefore lost her opportunity for a respite from the washing and ironing. When we called Wellcome, they confirmed there had been some dropouts from the trip - but would not comment on the circumstances of any individual cases. While we're dispensing brickbats, the logic of the move to close off the top two levels of the Kai Tak car park over the weekend was hard to fathom. Certainly, if it was meant to turn people off coming to our now former airport on Sunday, it seemed to fail on virtually every level, pardon the pun. The streets of Kowloon City were literally heaving with camera-wielding plane spotters, who despite the best efforts of police managed to create significant traffic hold-ups. Without blaming the restriction for the world's woes, at least some of the crowds had only come into Kowloon City because of their inability to see much from Kai Tak itself. Surely a product of some rather blinkered decision-making. We would never try to tell the powers-that-be how to suck eggs - but perhaps a more sensible option might have been to charge spectators for admission to the top floor of the car park, and donate the proceeds to charity. Surely, that way, the police, the crowds and a good cause would all have been kept happy. Amid what was described as a generally smooth start to proceedings at Chek Lap Kok - despite the odd lengthy delay - there were some amusing gripes. One passenger lamented the ironies of what could and could not be purchased yesterday, with some shops in the terminal still not open. 'I can pick up a Ferragamo suit, a Cartier diamond or a Gucci bag, but I can't find a coffee for love nor money!' she said.