Qantas has announced a $100 million investment in its network of domestic and international lounges that will take place over the next three years.
A key project will be a new flagship first class lounge at London Heathrow, which is expected to offer direct access to boarding gates, views over the airfield, wellbeing features and dining facilities.
The Qantas First Lounge will operate alongside the current International Lounge, which will become a dedicated business class lounge. It is expected to open in 2025 to coincide with the launch of Project Sunrise ultra long haul flights from Australia’s east coast to destinations including the UK.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “London is one of the most important destinations on our network and it’s the perfect location for a First Lounge, especially with our direct Project Sunrise flights on the way. Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports so we’re very pleased to be working with them to secure a great space in the terminal for an additional lounge.
The investment will also see the upgrade of a number of other lounges throughout the network.
This includes the surprise reopening of the carrier’s Hong Kong lounge in April 2023, complete with the popular yum cha trolley. The carrier had previously announced it would not be reopening this lounge after the pandemic.
Other significant improvements include the complete refurbishment and expansion of the international business lounge at Sydney (scheduled to open 2025), the expansion of the business lounge in Melbourne (due to open 2024), a new Hobart Qantas Club, and a new regional lounge in Broome with double the usual seat capacity (opening in 2024).
Joyce said: “Being back in profit means we’re back to making long term investments for our customers. That started with the major aircraft order we announced last year and now we’re building on that with a major investment in our lounges.
“Millions of people a year visit our lounges and they are typically our frequent flyers who travel with us the most, so anything we do to improve them is a way of saying thank you to our most loyal customers.
The new announcements are in addition to the airline’s previously announced upgrades, including Auckland and Adelaide.