Passenger Terminal World magazine, March 2014 - The battle for brand loyalty between airlines is fierce. The result is a generation of airport lounges that create a brand experience unlike anything that has come before. Shashank Nigam, CEO of consulting firm SimpliFlying, who has advised over 40 airlines and airports around the world, says the trend is not surprising given the power of a lounge to build engagement with customers. “A lounge that exudes the personality of the airline brand goes a long way in building the relationship between airline and passenger. An immersive experience in the lounge can set the tone for a differentiated experience in-flight and beyond,” he says.

1. 32 LOUNGES
LIZ MORRELL
RIGHT: The
entertainment zone
and relaxation areas
at Virgin Atlantic’s
JFK Clubhouse
The battle for brand loyalty between
airlines is fierce. The result is a
generation of airport lounges that
create a brand experience unlike
anything that has come before
The airport lounge has evolved into a space
that can offer everything from spa
treatments to top-end cocktail bars, and has
developed into a fierce battleground among
airlines eager to immerse a traveller with as
exciting a brand experience as possible as they
fight to boost loyalty among an increasingly
disloyal customer base.
From the Star Alliance business lounge in Los
Angeles International, which has a quiet reading
room with soundproof doors, to the Qantas
Singapore Lounge in Changi International, which
includes elements such as a communal cooking
counter that replicates the lively atmosphere of
Singapore’s hawker centre, everyone is trying to
get in on the trend.
Dr Ali Genc, senior vice president of media
relations at Turkish Airlines, says that a good
brand experience is vital in the lounge area. “Our
aim is to conquer a place for our brand in the
hearts and minds of the customers. We want to
arouse positive emotions regarding our brand and
to create a desire to repeat the experience over
and over again,” he says.
Passenger Terminal World | MARCH 2014
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2. LOUNGES 33
32 LOUNGES
LIZ MORRELL
RIGHT: The
entertainment zone
and relaxation areas
at Virgin Atlantic’s
JFK Clubhouse
The battle for brand loyalty between
airlines is fierce. The result is a
generation of airport lounges that
create a brand experience unlike
anything that has come before
The airport lounge has evolved into a space
that can offer everything from spa
treatments to top-end cocktail bars, and has
developed into a fierce battleground among
airlines eager to immerse a traveller with as
exciting a brand experience as possible as they
fight to boost loyalty among an increasingly
disloyal customer base.
From the Star Alliance business lounge in Los
Angeles International, which has a quiet reading
room with soundproof doors, to the Qantas
Singapore Lounge in Changi International, which
includes elements such as a communal cooking
counter that replicates the lively atmosphere of
Singapore’s hawker centre, everyone is trying to
get in on the trend.
Dr Ali Genc, senior vice president of media
relations at Turkish Airlines, says that a good
brand experience is vital in the lounge area. “Our
aim is to conquer a place for our brand in the
hearts and minds of the customers. We want to
arouse positive emotions regarding our brand and
to create a desire to repeat the experience over
and over again,” he says.
Passenger Terminal World | MARCH 2014
stamp of
approval
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MARCH 2014 | Passenger Terminal World

3. LOUNGES 35
The attraction of doing this in the lounge
environment is the freedom these areas give
airlines to express their brand: “Most other areas
used in airline transportation, such as the aircraft
cabins and communal terminal spaces, have strict
standards and rules. This limits opportunities
to create a unique experience. As lounges are
relatively independent from other entities and
regulations, they present a fertile playground
for us,” he says.
Shashank Nigam, CEO of consulting firm
SimpliFlying, who has advised over 40 airlines
and airports around the world, says the trend
is not surprising given the power of a lounge to
build engagement with customers. “A lounge that
exudes the personality of the airline brand goes
a long way in building the relationship between
airline and passenger. An immersive experience
in the lounge can set the tone for a differentiated
experience in-flight and beyond,” he says.
The right brand experience
Certainly this is the goal for Virgin Atlantic,
whose brand and customer engagement
director, Reuben Arnold, says that a good brand
experience goes beyond simply fulfilling a
customer’s basic needs, in the same way that in
the retail sector retailers and shopping centres
are striving to deliver unforgettable experiential
offers. “Our Clubhouses allow customers to
work or rest in a relaxing environment, as they
would do if they didn’t happen to be waiting for a
ABOVE: Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class Clubhouse, Heathrow
plane. They can also eat, have a haircut or massage at
our spa, shoot a game of pool with friends or simply
hang out at the bar. Ultimately, they choose how they
want to prepare for their trip. This is what makes our
lounge experience unique and we know it acts as a
key differentiator,” he says.
At Turkish Airline’s opulent Lounge Istanbul at
Atatürk Airport, a wide range of experiences are
available, including a pool table, piano, movie theatre,
business centre, library, massage and shower facilities,
and even bedrooms for long-distance international passengers.
Arnold says that for Virgin Atlantic creating the right brand
experience is not about asking passengers what they want. “We
tend to avoid asking passengers directly. They are often able to
clearly articulate their functional needs but our role is to help
interpret their more unconscious needs and create surprising
new experiences,” he says. “Had we asked customers if they
needed a pool table or a hair stylist in the business lounge, they
would probably have said no. But we know that these extras
create a real sense of differentiation for us and passengers love
them and value the difference we offer,” he adds.
A good brand
experience
goes beyond
simply fulfilling a
customer’s basic
needs
RIGHT: The Star
Alliance Lounge at
LAX’s Tom Bradley
International Terminal
BELOW: The Virgin
Atlantic JFK Clubhouse
Very Important Partners
In creating brand experiences
various airlines have learned the
value in partnering with other
VIP brands to further reinforce
premium brand credentials.
Dr Ali Genc, senior vice
president of media relations at
Turkish Airlines, says that working
with other VIP brands is key for
Turkish Airlines. “We are trying
to work with the best experience
providers, such as gourmet
entertainment company Do & Co in
our lounges and Porsche Design for
amenity kits in our cabins. We are
planning other brand alliances for
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more valuable lounge experiences
in the future,” he says.
Drinks brand tie-ups are popular
since they build on a feature
already present in most airline
lounges. In 2011 vodka brand Grey
Goose teamed up with Virgin
Atlantic at Heathrow to create the
Grey Goose Loft for Upper Class
customers, with a service that the
partners claimed rivalled the best
cocktail bars in the world.
Similarly last May British Airways
partnered with premium drinks
group Pernod Ricard to open a
Glenlivet Whisky Bar and Snug
in the airline’s executive lounge
at Glasgow International airport,
following a major refurbishment
project. The drinks group has
the space for at least three years
and has already hinted that other
brands could be introduced.
Spa brand tie-ups are also
popular. At British Airways a
partnership with Elemis has seen
the Elemis Travel Spa open in three
of its Galleries lounges at London
Heathrow Terminal 5, while in Abu
Dhabi Etihad has a partnership with
Six Senses spa to offer spa facilities
in its premium lounges.
MARCH 2014 | Passenger Terminal World

4. LOUNGES 37
LEFT: TAM Airlines’ 540m2
lounge at São Paulo’s Guarulhos
International, Terminal 2
customers who want too many different facilities into one space.
“Currently, I think most of these people are thrown together in
one space, which may not work well and create an unpleasant
experience,” he says.
In December 2013 Singapore Airlines unveiled its new lounge
concept at Sydney International and now plans to roll it out to
15 of its SilverKris lounges in a US$100m (£60m) investment
over the next five years. Yet perhaps surprisingly its focus group
research showed that what customers really wanted was a
design modelled on the elements of a home, with living room,
dining room and kitchen spaces that offer the chance for flyers
to relax while feeling that they are in familiar surroundings.
Targeted branding
Michael Crump, partner and director at aviation
branding and design agency Honour Branding, has
been involved in lounge designs for everyone from
British Airways to the Great British Lounge at
Terminal 1 in London Heathrow, and more recently
for Saudi Airlines’ Riyadh and Dammam first,
business and domestic lounges. He says that
airlines should not only meet the requirements
needed for fliers to relax, work, eat or socialise
but should also differentiate their offer by short
and long haul to ensure all needs are met.
“For customers flying short haul the lounge
experience is often still part of their working day
as they commute for day meetings or back to
the office,” he says. “As their dwell time is short
their needs are about connectivity, ability to work
and the chance to grab food or drink. Long-haul
customers’ needs are very different. They may still
need to work but their mindset is very different
as they prepare themselves for a long flight and
require more relaxed seating, more substantial
food and more distractions to help them unwind.”
Airlines that offer tightly targeted lounges such
as the six Galleries lounges that British Airways
has for its different customer types at London
Heathrow Airport’s T5 can therefore give the best
brand experience.
The £60m flagship Galleries lounge concept
opened in 2008 and includes the Concorde Room,
the First Class lounge, three Club lounges and
an Arrivals lounge – all of which take their
inspiration from boutique hotels around the globe
and are the biggest complex of airline lounges
in the world. The most exclusive of these, the
Concorde Room, has been designed to host up
to 156 of the airline’s first-class customers and
specially invited guests with a bar, restaurant,
concierge desk and discreet boardroom. British
Airways opened the latest incarnation in the
Galleries concept in Cape Town International in
December 2013.
However, Adam Weissenberg, vice chairman
and US travel, hospitality and leisure leader at
Deloitte, says that too often airlines don’t properly
think through their offer, cramming too many
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BELOW LEFT: British
Airways’ Concorde
Room at Heathrow T5
BELOW RIGHT:
Productivity pods in
Singapore Airlines’
SilverKris Lounge at
Sydney Airport
Meeting changing needs
Although customers may not outwardly care about the brand
experience as such, the experience itself is key, believes Crump.
Get it wrong and customers will react, he argues. “Social media
has made the inside of lounges more transparent and the
experiences they have are now more live and immediate,
reporting daily drops in service and new designs as they come
on stream,” says Crump.
At Virgin Atlantic, Arnold says the airline works hard to
reinvent itself to ensure it keeps up-to-date with trends and is
delivering something new. “We are constantly re-examining the
Clubhouse experience to ensure it remains fresh and continues
to meet customers’ changing needs,” he says.
He says the airline also works hard to surprise its regular
customers. “We change our menus frequently and always
try to reflect new and exciting food concepts. For example,
we recently introduced a new British tapas concept in our
Heathrow and New York Clubhouses off the back of the
emerging food trend we have seen in the UK. We also keep
the food offer fresh by regularly working with partners to
create special pop-up restaurants
within the lounge, again to reflect
new culinary trends,” he says.
The market is continually evolving
and, although first- and businessclass customers are the natural
market for such lounges, the concept
is also feeding through to the mass
market. For first- and business-class
Out of the box
Designer airport lounges are an
expensive investment – increasingly
airlines are seeking alternative ways to
make an equally strong brand impression.
Turkish Airlines uses sports
partnerships to great effect: “Our
sponsorships for events and organisations
help us to create unique experiences,”
explains Dr Ali Genc, senior VP of media
relations at the carrier. “For instance we
had a mini golf area to remind customers
of our sponsorship of the Turkish Airlines
Open golf tournament,” he says. In
December the airline opened its latest
lounge – not in an airport but within
the German football team Borussia
Dortmund’s stadium. The lounge reflects
Turkish Airlines’ International Lounge
at Istanbul Atatürk Airport and resulted
from the airline’s role as Premium Airline
Partner for the team.
Meanwhile Emirates has a VIP lounge
at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu
Stadium that resembles the cabin of a
Boeing 777 serving the Dubai-Madrid
route and can host up to 200 guests
during match days, with space to relax,
eat and drink, and watch the game.
MARCH 2014 | Passenger Terminal World

5. 38 LOUNGES
RIGHT: One
of the five
Lufthansa
lounges at
Frankfurt
Airport,
Pier A-Plus
passengers, a lounge is part of their expectations
from an airline with space allocations differing
depending on the class of customer and the
services they offer – such as table restaurant
dining, spas and treatment rooms. The economics
don’t really work for economy customers, say
the airlines, but some smaller airlines, such as
Bangkok Airways, provide lounge access for all,
and Virgin Holidays provides a pay-to-use lounge
called V-Room for its holiday customers travelling
in economy or premium economy.
Airport, airline cooperation
There seems little doubt that lounges are an
invaluable part of the branding process for
airlines, but maximising their benefits requires
both airport and airline to work together –
something that can get overlooked. “For some the
ultimate lounge experience is where you can board
your aircraft from the lounge. The BA Concorde
experience used to do that at JFK and LHR, and
Emirates does it at LHR Terminal 3 and Dubai
Airport when boarding the A380,” says Crump.
He says Lufthansa has also surprised. “It has
achieved great success working with Frankfurt
Airport to create its own dedicated terminal
experience for first-class passengers – where
within 60 seconds of entering the terminal you can
be seated in the lounge with a personal assistant
helping you check in and escorting you to your
car, which will take you to your aircraft,” he says.
But Weissenberg believes airlines can go one
better in creating a truly memorable brand
experience that isn’t just about immersion but
personalisation – creating a custom experience for
travellers tailored as closely as possible to their
needs. “Travellers also want personal experience.
So wouldn’t it be great if you had a layover where
you get off the plane, are escorted to the lounge
to be greeted and served with your favourite
meal and a glass of wine? Then when you are
finished you can work at a desk until it is time to
be escorted to your next flight. You might prefer
a massage followed by one of the latest movies.
That would create loyalty,” says Weissenberg.
Such a concept may sound a little far-fetched
at the moment, but in a world where driving
customer loyalty is more than ever about
personalised service and truly knowing the
customer it may well be the concept that offers
the next great change in airline lounge design.
Passenger Terminal World | MARCH 2014
Air Canada Maple
Leaf Lounge
AIRPORT: Frankfurt Airport, Terminal 1
OPENING HOURS: 6:00am to 10:00pm
SIZE: 726m2
The latest
lounges to open
their doors to
passengers
Brand experience: Features Canadian artworks,
furnishings by Canadian designers, a spa inspired
shower area with Canadian Escents spa products,
bistro-style dining and German and Canadian
wines, beers and spirits. Also features a quiet
zone with reclining pods equipped with personal
satellite-fed TV screens, USB ports and Sony noisecancelling headsets, a business centre equipped
with individual flatscreen Dell PCs, colour laser
printing and scanning, and complimentary wireless
high-speed internet access throughout.
Singapore Airlines’
SilverKris Lounge
AIRPORT: Sydney Airport, Terminal 1
OPENING HOURS: 5:00am to 7:00pm
SIZE: 775m2
Brand experience: This lounge
is part of a SG$100m (£48m)
investment programme to
upgrade all of the Singapore
Airlines’ airport lounges around
the world. The new design
concept by ONG&ONG aims
to provide a sense of ‘being
home’ for customers. The
lounge reflects the airline’s
Asian heritage through a batik
design screen in the foyer as
well as selected art pieces
placed inside that have been
locally sourced from Singapore.
The lounge features tailored
personal spaces, productivity
pods for working, armchairs,
and a selection of food and
beverages offering iconic
dishes from Singapore.
Star Alliance lounge
AIRPORT: Los Angeles International
Airport, Tom Bradley International Terminal
OPENING HOURS: 9:15am to 00:30am*
SIZE: 1,675m2
Brand experience: Features an open-air outdoor
terrace with panoramic views of the northern runway,
as well as fire pits and a water wall, a bar area for
socialising, a library space, a den, a study and a
media room. Eight shower rooms are also available.
The lounge is equipped with wi-fi and offers printing,
fax and copy services. The design of the lounge
has a contemporary take on 1950s and 1960s LA
architecture and features many locally sourced
products and furniture, such as its ceramic tile feature
walls that were created by local artisans.
*times may change depending on Star Alliance flight schedules
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