British Airways and fellow oneworld passengers flying from Rome’s Fiumicino airport can now have their own slice of Gattica inspired luxury thanks to a newly launched lounge.
This lounge is the spearhead of its £4.5bn investment to benefit its customers, revamping lounges across its network, starting with this opening in Rome’s Fiumicino Airport and the result is an uber cool, restrained, calculated lounge that oozes chic minimalism.
The lounge might look at odds with the usual British Airways design, and that is because it follows a brand-new design concept for the airline featuring the very best of British and European design and delivering a luxurious and contemporary look and feel, not too dissimilar from the lounges from fellow oneworld alliance member Latam.
Spread over 460 square metres, the lounge also features high windows that allows natural light to flow in and provides fantastic views across the runway. The windows will feature smart electronic blinds that are programmed with sensors to react to light and heat throughout the day, ensuring that the lounge is always a comfortable environment for customers to relax in.
The centre-piece of the lounge is a granite topped feature bar, with bespoke lighting and comfortable low seating. During peak times the bar will be hosted by a mixologist enabling customers to sit back and relax as their drink is made to order. In quieter periods, the design of the bar allows customers to help themselves from the wide range of beverages on offer.
The rest of the lounge is made up from a myriad of spaces and furniture including marble tables, textured wall décor and artwork from the airline’s collection, the majority of which is by English artist Patrick Caulfield and includes a number of pieces from his series of 22 screen prints from 1973 titled “Some Poems of Jules Laforgue”.
The next lounges to be unveiled with the new look will be at New York’s JFK Terminal 7, along with improvements being made there to the customer experience at check-in. The airline will also be opening a new lounge in Aberdeen later this year and further investment is then planned in Geneva, San Francisco, Johannesburg and Chicago.
The Big Picture
TheDesignAir 
They’re not upating their LHR lounges???