Taking Flight: Winning the Partnership Powerhouse Award at the 2026 Klook Partner Awards

Last week, we traded our early morning launch fields for the presentation stage in Sydney to attend the 2026 Klook ANZ Partner Awards. We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Hot Air took home The Partnership Powerhouse Award (Merchant Edition) across our Gold Coast, Brisbane, Cairns, and Port Douglas brands!

It was an incredible evening celebrating the best of the Australia and New Zealand tourism industry, but the story of this award actually started weeks earlier, thousands of feet in the air.

A Partnership Reaching New Heights

Recently, we expanded our fleet with a brand-new, custom-designed Klook hot air balloon. To celebrate this milestone, we hosted an inaugural flight on the Gold Coast, carrying a contingent of Klook representatives and a film crew with Jay as Pilot In Command of the brand new balloon.

While the Klook team enjoyed the sweeping views from the basket, Stu and Alex were busy flying alongside them in a separate balloon to capture the stunning aerial photography of the new envelope in action.

Pulling off this flight was no small feat. Behind the scenes, it required intense preparation, tight logistical juggling right up until passenger loading - thankfully the weather turned on one of the best sunrises we've experienced! And the hustle completely paid off.

Front and Center on the Big Screen

Fast forward to Thursday, March 5th at the Klook Partner Awards in Sydney.

Sitting in the audience, one of the most surreal and proudest moments for our team was watching the presentation by Henry Hooper (Vice President - Western Markets). Displayed massively on the big screen behind him were the very aerial photos we had captured during that inaugural flight.

Seeing our brand and our photography featured so prominently as part of Klook's "Travel Pulse 2026" vision was a massive highlight and a testament to the strength of this partnership.

A Massive Team Effort

We were honored to walk on stage to accept The Partnership Powerhouse Award from Henry Hooper and accept this win for our entire crew.

We want to send a huge shoutout to our Operations and Reservations teams across all our locations. Delivering a consistently high standard of customer experience is what makes achievements like this possible. Special thanks to Jay and Stu for their exceptional grit and adaptability leading up to this win.

We also want to extend our gratitude to Henry Hooper, Miriam Mouahbi, and the entire team at Klook for putting on a spectacular event and for their continued partnership.

Here is to bigger budgets, bolder trips, and flying even higher together in 2026! 🎈☁️