Hong Kong- A Hong Kong tycoon who has ordered a 153-million-US-dollar Boeing was driven to VIP private travel by the sight of a First Class passenger in his underpants, a news report said Thursday. Joseph Lau, 55, head of Hong Kong-based Chinese Estate Holdings, is buying a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which has 223 square metres of cabin space and was designed to carry up to 300 people.
Explaining his purchase, Lau, one of Asia's richest men with a personal fortune estimated at more than 2 billion US dollars, says an unpleasant experience in First Class made him switch to VIP jets.
He told the South China Morning Post he was horrified when a fellow passenger stripped to his underwear. "The passenger changed into his pyjamas in front of the others," he said.
"I felt embarrassed, and I am a man, let alone how the women would have felt." After the experience, Lau had ordered six private jets for himself, including the Dreamliner.
Lau is also known as an avid art collector and hit the headlines last year when he paid 17.4 million US dollars for an Andy Warhol portrait of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
Boeing claims to have seven private orders for Boeing 787 Dreamliners for use as private jets. The first 787 jets will be produced in July.
