Singapore: Singapore Airlines is opening new-look lounges at Changi Airport following a S$50 million (US$37 million) upgrade, offering private day rooms, showers, cooking stations and cocktail bars overlooking the runway.
"The SilverKris and Krisflyer Gold lounges in Terminal 3 have 30% more seats and space than previously and can accommodate about 1,150 passengers in total,'' Singapore Airlines said in a statement on Monday, a day before opening the First Class SilverKris Lounge and so-called Private Room, the most exclusive section.
The business-class area of that lounge and the KrisFlyer Gold Lounge have already reopened.
The facilities are reopening about a year later than originally scheduled, after Covid laid waste to travel and saddled Singapore Airlines with a record loss. It flew only 457,000 passengers in the fiscal year to March 2021, a 98% slump.
The situation is brighter now Singapore has dropped mandatory quarantines and testing, which has helped resuscitate the aviation industry and brought Changi, regularly voted the world's best airport, back to life.
Singapore Airlines has said it aims to operate 67% of its pre-Covid capacity by September.
"Opening the lounges reinforces our position as Changi Airport's anchor airline, and reflects our confidence in Singapore's future as a pre-eminent global air hub," chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong said in the statement.
The airline worked with Hirsch Bedner Associates on the redevelopment of the lounges, which will be open to passengers traveling in premium cabins and priority members in its frequent-flyer programme.
The Private Room, which is only available for customers flying in suites or first class, will open at 6 p.m. local time today. The day rooms feature Tempur Zero Gravity beds, which typically cost about S$4,600, that can be booked upon entering the lounge.
Similar options are available in first-class sections that are open to passengers flying with the airline and Star Alliance.
The business-class section of the SilverKris Lounge has a quiet area, a main dining hall, a so-called living room area with sofas, and an open courtyard-style area. Customers at the bar will have a view of aircraft taking off and landing.
The KrysFlyer Gold Lounge also overlooks the runway, and has a bigger dining area as well as shower facilities that weren't offered before.
"The economies in this part of the world are expected to grow faster than most economies around the world," Goh told reporters yesterday. "With that, we expect that business travel and premium travel will also increase."
Singapore Airlines carried 1.45 million passengers in April, the highest monthly tally since the pandemic began. Only 110,300 flew in the same month last year, when Singapore was largely closed off to the rest of the world.
