Following the soft-opening of their Melbourne lounge earlier this year, Qantas has completed a major upgrade of its domestic lounges at the Airport, providing customers with more seats, an Asian spice bar and premium designs inspired by Melbourne’s landscape.
The new Domestic Business Lounge and Qantas Club have been completely redesigned to use space more effectively, offering seats for nearly 900 customers, the space is simply vast. Through this clever utilisation of the space, more than 130 additional customers can be accommodated.
At today’s opening, following a 12-month redevelopment, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the multi-million dollar investment was a vote of confidence in Melbourne’s future.
“Melbourne is one of the busiest ports in our network, and with the demand for premium travel on the rise, it’s the right time to be investing in bigger and better lounges,” Mr Joyce said.
“Our Frequent Flyers tell us that starting their journey in a comfortable and premium lounge is important to them, which is why they were front of mind when we embarked on this redesign. Given it’s Melbourne, serving quality local food, wine and barista coffee is obviously a priority.”
But what does the new lounge feature? Being designed by Woods Bagot, the design may seem familiar, featuring swathes of natural timber. The colour palette of ‘turquoise and grey ‘in the Qantas Club is inspired by the Great Ocean Road, while the dark tones and sophisticated finishes in the Business Lounge are meant to symbolise Melbourne’s dining culture and supper clubs.
Adding to the melting pot of cuisines found across Qantas’ home lounges, following the popularity of feature dining offerings in Perth (gourmet pizzas) and Brisbane (Mexican cantina), the Melbourne Domestic Business Lounge offers a new spice bar serving freshly made Asian dishes including noodle soups, Char Siu pork and Sichuan eggplant.
Both of Melbourne’s lounges provide an all-day barista service, a fully stocked bar serving Australian wine and beer, seasonal dining, business facilities, an increased number of device-charging access points and the new service experience by Accor.
While Qantas currently operates 53 lounges worldwide, all eyes are about to turn to a new First Lounge and an expansion of its existing Business Lounge at Singapore Changi Airport, welcome to transiting passengers between London and Sydney. The work to the lounge will commence in April next year, with a plan to open in 2019.
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