Editorial | Dragon spirit lives on to inspire city
- Hong Kong has experienced a great sense of loss with the closure of its iconic home-grown airline, but the entrepreneurial thought behind it can guide us through the present tough times
Dragon’s demise came as a shock to staff and customers, but they were well aware of the crisis the Covid-19 pandemic has wrought on the travel industry and airlines. Cathay Pacific had long been suffering financial difficulties, in part due to poor management. A rebranding of Dragonair to Cathay Dragon in 2016 and the replacement of its iconic red dragon logo, widely recognised on the mainland, with a wing one in line with the parent firm’s visual image, failed to spur business. A restructuring of the company was inevitable and the airline, positioned between the full-fare premium service of Cathay Pacific and its budget affiliate Hong Kong Express, was bound to bear the full force of cost-cutting.
But while Dragon is no more, the circumstances of its creation, dedication of its staff and pluck that made it a serious rival to Cathay Pacific, which eventually bought it, are lessons for Hong Kong as it looks to the future. Cathay Pacific, while arguably Hong Kong’s best-known brand, is majority British-owned. Dragonair was established in 1985, in the wake of the signing of the Joint Declaration between China and Britain, by pro-Beijing Hong Kong tycoons, with the “one country, two systems” model that the city would be governed under after its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 firmly in mind. Hong Kong-based and rooted, its focus China and the region, it quickly became a success story.
Understandably, the announcement of Dragon’s closure prompted nostalgia online. Honeymoon pictures, boarding passes and holiday photos accompanied wistful words. Co-founder Chao Kuang-piu, aged 100, expressed sorrow. But, as he said, there is also hope; the entrepreneurial spirit behind the airline can inspire and guide Hong Kong through the present tough times and “forge a way forward”.