S$8,888, an auspicious number in Eastern culture. The first public rides were on Valentine's Day, 14 February, the soft launch on 1 March, and the official opening on 15 April, at which Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was the guest of honour. Design The development has a gross building area of approximately , built on a site along the Marina Promenade. Designed by Arup and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with a capacity of up to 7.3 million passengers a year, the normally constant rotation of the wheel means that a complete trip lasts approximately 32 minutes. The Flyer's 28 air-conditioned capsules are mounted outboard of the rim of the wheel structure, providing continuously unobstructed views. Each capsule has a floor area of and is capable of holding 28 passengers, or up to five wheelchairs and 15 other visitors when booked in advance for use by disabled guests. The wheel initially rotated in a counter-clockwise direction when viewed from Marina Centre, but on 4 August 2008 this was reversed on the advice of Feng shui masters. Wheelchair ramps and lifts, handicapped toilets and a dedicated parking lot for the disabled are also provided. Acquisition On 28 August 2014, Straco Leisure Pte. Ltd. announced the acquisition of Singapore Flyer after embezzlement and financial issues with the now defunct predecessor company, Great Wheel Corporation. Straco Leisure Pte. Ltd. is 90% owned by Straco Corporation Limited, a Singaporean listed company that operates tourist attractions in China such as the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium and Underwater World Xiamen. The remaining 10% is owned by WTS Leisure Pte. Ltd., one of the largest private tour bus operators in Singapore. In media The Bloomberg Television series High Flyers is filmed in one of the Flyer's capsules. The Flyer makes an appearance in the 2018 film, Crazy Rich Asians, based on the novel of the same name by Kevin Kwan. The Flyer was featured in a task on the sixteenth season of the American reality show The Amazing Race as well as during the finale of the first season of the Australian variant ''The Amazing Race Australia. The Flyer was featured and visited by South Korean band Twice for their TWICE TV series (TWICE TV6) when they were in Singapore. The Flyer was featured in two Detective Conan films, once in the 2016 film The Darkest Nightmare, and another time in the 2019 film The Fist of Blue Sapphire. The