Qantas eyes Brisbane, Auckland for new international lounges.
Qantas is considering building an all-new airport lounge at Auckland as part of the airline’s international lounge network, while Brisbane’s first class and business class lounges could also be in for a make-over.
With Qantas having opened stylish new lounges at its major overseas ports of Singapore, Hong Kong (below) and Los Angeles “we’re looking at what happens next” says Kylie Morris, Qantas’ Head of Customer Experience.
“We’re undertaking a global strategic review of our lounge position” Morris tells Australian Business Traveller, adding that “we’re evaluating Brisbane right now and Auckland is also on our radar.”
Auckland is Qantas’ most popular international destination due to high trans-Tasman traffic, with competitor and Virgin Australia partner Air New Zealand currently upgrading its own lounge at Auckland Airport along similar lines to the AirNZ-built and managed Star Alliance Los Angeles lounge (below).
One option for Auckland and Brisbane would be to consolidate each airport’s current first class and business class lounges into an ‘integrated’ lounge, along similar lines to Singapore and Hong Kong, with service differentiation available to Chairman’s Lounge and Platinum One travellers.
Morris says that Qantas is open to “strategic investment” in building its own lounges but will also be considering where it makes most sense to use the lounges of its Oneworld partners.
“We’ve made significant investment in Asia, now we’re looking where we need to have strategic investment in the market and where it’s better to use one of our partner’s lounges.”
Building new lounges in partnership with other Oneworld airlines is also an option, as Qantas has successfully proven with the Los Angeles Business Lounge (above) which was a joint venture between Qantas, British Airways and Cathay Pacific.
