To celebrate Lunar New Year, VistaJet has partnered with Shangri-La Singapore to provide a uniquely southeast Asian 'Lunar New Year Experience', the tossing of the auspicious Lo Hei on board a business jet while cruising at 45,000 ft.

Lo Hei, which in Cantonese means 'prosperity toss', is a popular custom during Lunar New Year in southeast Asia involving the festive Chinese dish Yu Sheng. Shangri-La's Michelin-star Shang Palace has created special Lunar New Year menus for VistaJet flights from Singapore, selecting the freshest and finest ingredients used in Chinese cuisine such as abalone, scallops, lobster, coral trout and suckling pig.

Shang Palace executive chef Daniel Cheung has also added the Chinese bird's nest delicacy to some notable dishes such as 'Buddha Jumps Over the Wall', a double-boiled seafood soup, and the famous Lunar New Year dessert Nian Gao, sticky rice cakes with red dates. Cheung is renowned for infusing time-honoured Chinese classical cuisine with modern and meticulous presentation.

Cheung says: “A reunion feast during the Lunar New Year is never complete without Yu Sheng, which signifies good luck, prosperity and hope for the coming year. It is a symbolic dish that we have incorporated into the VistaJet menu, adding to the festive celebration for the Year of the Rabbit. It is interesting to inject an interactive dimension to VistaJet's in-flight dining experience with a Lo Hei. It is our pleasure to be collaborating with them this festive season.”

“Lunar New Year is a very important period in many parts of Asia,” says VistaJet chief commercial officer Ian Moore. “Some are taking the opportunity to travel abroad for holidays. With the Chinese border now open, families can go back to China for reunions and corporations can send executives for business. We are optimistic about the growth prospects for the region in 2023.”

VistaJet has already experienced a large year-on-year increase in passenger traffic into Singapore and southeast Asia. In the first three quarters of 2022, the number of its Singapore flights increased 376 per cent year-on-year; compared to pre-pandemic 2019 figures this is up 40 per cent.

Vista, as the parent company of VistaJet, is the world's largest on demand provider for private flying with a member's fleet of more than 360 aircraft, including the largest fleet of long range Global 7500 aircraft. VistaJet flies to over 1,900 airports in 187 countries, covering 96 per cent of the world.