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Rather, this is good news for the airline industry. This summer marks thehe big comeback of airline lounges or alliances dedicated to premium traffic. Definitely a tangible sign of the resumption of air traffic throughout the world, and more particularly in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Better still, the reopening of the Première Classe lounges finally announces the long-awaited thrill of very high-contribution passengers.
United States
Faced with the strong surge in demand on domestic American lines, the major American carriers have generally accelerated the reopening of their lounges. With the opening of a brand new Sky Club lounge in Fort Lauderdale, Delta Air Lines ad operated all of its lounges. That is to say about fifty Sky Clubs in the United States and abroad. The company announces the upcoming inauguration of a Sky Club in Tokyo Haneda. A catering service has also resumed since May.
American Airlines again operates 33 Admiral Clubs lounges in 24 cities. Internationally, only Mexico City and Sao Paulo are open again. At Paris CDG, the lounge is closed until further notice.
United Airlines remains a little behind in terms of reopening. The company says on its site that it operates 23 lounges in 12 American cities. United Polaris lounges for international flights are currently not operational.
Gulf
In June, the company Emirates finally put its 1st class lounge back into service. It took nearly a year for the Dubai transporter to reopen a second show. Its business class lounge has been operational since July 2020. Outside of Dubai, only six destinations welcome Emirates passengers in the airline’s lounges. Especially in Manchester and Milan in Europe.
Etihad is operating its five lounges in Abu Dhabi again? This includes in particular the First Class lounge, the one on arrival. The company has also reactivated openings in several European cities. This is the case in Paris and Geneva. On the other hand, Brussels remains temporarily closed.
As for Qatar Airways, it once again operates its three lounges at Hamad International Airport in Doha as well as four of its premium lounges at Paris CDG, London Heathrow but also in Beirut and Singapore. The Al Maha service at the airport also offers its transit and arrivals lounge to all passengers.
Europe
Air France recently celebrated the reopening of its First Class lounge. Since May 4, this privileged place has once again been welcoming its passengers in a cozy setting. Only missing for the moment at the call wellness services in the spa– due to health restrictions.
In addition, Air France will put into service in a few days its brand new lounge at Terminal F, reserved for short- and medium-haul flights. A total of 3000 m2 spread over two floors available to Business Class and Flying Blue Elite Plus travelers.
Six Lufthansa lounges are once again accessible at Frankfurt Airport with a catering offer possible since June 16. The First Class lounge is the latest to reopen to the public. On July 1, it was in Munich, Lufthansa’s second hub, that the First Class lounge was able to reopen its doors. The company operates 54 salons again but Paris is not part of the lot. Terminal 1 at CDG always remains closed. As are the company’s trade fairs in Bremen, Cologne / Bonn, Dresden, Leipzig and Nuremberg.
In Swiss, only the Business and Senator lounge in Lounge A have been open in Zurich since June 1. All other lounges remain closed for the moment. In Geneva, the company operates the Horizon Lounge for 1st class and HON-circles and the Swiss Business Lounge.
After eight months of hiatus, Brussels Airlines has finally reopened its two lounges at Brussels airport. These are “The LOFT” and the Sunrise Lounge. The company took the opportunity to call on a new catering service provider, Aramark. The latter is known for sustainable culinary production.
A London heathrow, the number of operational lounges remains severely limited due to the sanitary constraints still in force. At terminal 5, seuls le « Galleries South Club », « First Lounge » and « Concorde Terrace » de British Airways welcome passengers. All other lounges of the company and its OneWorld partners remain closed for the moment.
The reopening of terminal 3 à Heathrow July 15, however, appears to be good news. Used by Virgin Atlantic and its partner Delta Air Lines, the reactivation of the terminal will also allow the return trip of the three Virgin Atlantic lounges, often considered as models of comfort …
A Madrid, reactivation of Terminals 3. Iberia announces that on June 14 it also put the Velázquez Premium Lounge back into service in the T4S terminal. It completes the offer of the Dali Lounge. Since July 1, terminals T1 and T2 reopened to the public with four lounges (Plaza Major; Cibeles, Neptuno and Puerta de Alcala) available for business passengers of various airlines.
Finally at Istanbul, the three salons of the company Turkish Airlines -Business, Miles & Smiles and Domestic- are fully operational… notwithstanding health constraints!
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