| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 17/04/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 90 |
| Copyright: Other |
Reid takes Starring role in Karaoke costume drama
BRITISH Midland’s shy and retiring group managing director Austin Reid was cruelly thrown in at the deep end during his first appearance on the world aviation stage.Reid was present in Singapore as the national carrier signed up to Star Alliance. The group MD is also preparing to bring British Midland into the airline alliance.
In true Singapore style, all the executives present had to dress up in Chinese costume for the presentations. Not only that, they had to arrive at the press conference on special transport – a trishaw.
For those uninitiated in the Singaporean ways, a trishaw is like a rickshaw, only powered by a bloke on a tricycle.
Reid was squashed in the uncomfortable-looking seat next to the star of the show Dr Cheong, chief of Singapore Airlines. Consequently, Reid’s face appeared all over the national and international newspapers the following day.
And some of the papers even got the captions right, except for the local Singapore rag which decided to call him Sir Michael Bishop, the British Midland chairman.
If the press was not used to airline executives letting their hair down in public by running around in strange garb and riding trishaws, they would have been positively shocked by events later that day.
Sources close to the chief executives report a wild evening of celebration which resulted in a good-old singalong around the Karaoke machine.
Naturally, local man Dr Cheong led the knees-up, but he was reportedly joined in front of the mike by the top men at Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS, Varig and All Nippon Airways.
And what was the song they were all singing? That old Beatles classic Yellow Submarine.
Strange choice for bunch of Star Alliance guys, Backchat thinks. They should have had chosen Star Man by David Bowie or The Slightest Touch by Five Star.