The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong has formally reopened its doorways as of at this time. This follows the lounge having been “completely” closed in 2021.
The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong’s closure
In 2014, Qantas opened a phenomenal lounge at Hong Kong Worldwide Airport. The lounge has seating for roughly 300 folks, and spans round 2,000 sq. meters (over 21,000 sq. ft).
The lounge closed across the begin of the pandemic, given strict journey restrictions in each Hong Kong and Australia. In August 2021, Qantas introduced that the closure of the Hong Kong lounge can be everlasting. As an alternative prospects can be directed to the lounges of oneworld associate Cathay Pacific, because the Hong Kong-based airline has fairly a lounge footprint at its hub.
On the time, the plan was that this might be Qantas’ solely worldwide lounge that wouldn’t be reopened — even when issues had been nonetheless wanting dangerous, Qantas had plans to reopen its lounges in London, Los Angeles, and Singapore, consistent with demand.
Qantas Lounge Hong Kong now reopened
Qantas had a change of coronary heart concerning its Hong Kong lounge, or maybe concerning the significance of Hong Kong general. As we first discovered a few months in the past, Qantas has backtracked concerning the lounge’s closure, and there’s now an thrilling replace — the Qantas Lounge Hong Kong had its official reopening as of at this time, Might 3, 2023.
The lounge is open every day from 2:30PM till the final Qantas departure. It’s positioned in Terminal 1, close to gate 5. In the event you’re originating in Hong Kong, simply flip proper after immigration, and it received’t be a really lengthy stroll to the lounge. It is a commonplace oneworld enterprise class lounge, so it’s open to all oneworld first and enterprise class passengers, in addition to oneworld Emerald and oneworld Sapphire members.
Apparently Qantas shipped all of the lounge furnishings again to Australia when it determined to close this lounge completely. Because of this, the lounge largely acquired new furnishings. That labored out, for the reason that lounge was due for a refresh anyway, provided that it opened virtually a decade in the past.
Whereas I desire a lot of Cathay Pacific’s lounges in Hong Kong, extra lounge capability is at all times a very good factor, so it is a optimistic improvement.
The economics of airport lounges
The economics of airline-run airport lounges are fascinating. At outstations, airways usually have two decisions — they’ll function their very own lounge, or they’ll use a associate airline or contract lounge.
There are a couple of concerns when deciding whether or not to open a lounge:
- Does the airline care about providing its “personal” expertise on the bottom? Emirates is understood for working lounges at outstations even with restricted service, as a result of the airline cares about providing a constant expertise door-to-door, all the way down to having chauffeur service
- Is it cheaper to function a lounge or ship passengers elsewhere? Clearly the mounted prices of working a lounge are excessive, however the different is paying for every passenger who accesses a associate lounge, and that may add up at a busy outstation
- How a lot income will be recouped by means of admitting others? Airways take completely different approaches to this, however in some circumstances an airline can function a lounge at a revenue by taking part in one thing like Precedence Move, and even by having different airways ship its passengers there
Within the case of the Qantas Lounge Hong Kong, a couple of issues come to thoughts:
- All Qantas premium cabin passengers and eligible elite members also can entry Cathay Pacific lounges, provided that each airways belong to oneworld, and people lounges are largely superior; it’s not like Qantas working its personal lounge in Hong Kong is materially enhancing the passenger expertise, and I’m additionally curious what number of Qantas vacationers select to go to the Qantas Lounge quite than these of associate Cathay Pacific
- Whereas Qantas had some agreements to promote entry to its lounges, it actually hasn’t gone all the way in which in maximizing income, within the sense that the lounge has by no means partnered with Precedence Move or an identical program
- The best way I see it, the lounge isn’t an enormous differentiator for the airline when it comes to passenger expertise, and possibly price the airline some huge cash
I believe Qantas reopening its lounge in Hong Kong displays that the airline believes Hong Kong will make a full restoration, or else I can’t think about this might be taking place.
Backside line
The Qantas Lounge Hong Kong closed firstly of the pandemic, and on the time the plan was for that to be everlasting. Nonetheless, the airline has backtracked, and the lounge has reopened as of Might 2023. It’s fascinating to see this improvement, and it exhibits how a lot has modified in each Australia and Hong Kong since 2021.
What do you make of Qantas reopening its Hong Kong lounge?
