Air France is planning to open a new outstation lounge in the United States, but not necessarily at the airport you’d expect.
Air France plans another United States lounge
Zach Griff reports on how Air France is planning on opening a 6,129-square-foot lounge at Newark Airport (EWR), in Terminal B.
This is per a proposal that has been submitted by the airline, which is expected to be approved at the upcoming Port Authority meeting on Thursday, October 24, 2024. Of course nothing is final yet, but it has been recommended for approval, so I think it’s highly likely to pass.
The lease would be for a period of seven years, and would go into effect as of January 1, 2025. Air France would pay around $3 million to refurbish the lounge space, and would then spend over $13 million in rent over the term of the lease. If this all goes as expected, I wouldn’t anticipate the lounge opening before late 2025 or early 2026 at the absolute earliest.
Interestingly, Air France only resumed flights to Newark as of late 2022, after not having served the airport for around a decade. The airport also isn’t served by Air France’s sister company, KLM.
Air France currently has six lounges in the United States, with other locations including Boston (BOS), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington (IAD). All of those airports have an average of more than one daily flight from Air France-KLM. So as you can tell, this would be Air France’s smallest station with a lounge.
Why would Air France open a lounge at Newark?
It might be a bit surprising that Air France would open a lounge at Newark, given that it’s a small station for the airline group. I suspect the logic here is pretty straightforward.
Air France flies out of Terminal B at Newark, and that has three piers — B1, B2, and B3. Air France flies out of the B2 pier, gates B51-58. The problem is, these small piers complicate the lounge situation.
Up until recently, Air France sent its passengers to the British Airways Lounge Newark, also in B2. However, in recent weeks that contract has been terminated, presumably because British Airways doesn’t have the space available.
This means that Air France has simply given its premium passenger meal vouchers, as there has been no lounge they could use in that terminal. There is a Delta Sky Club in Terminal A that travelers could technically use, but that’s quite a detour.
That raises the question, where exactly is Air France getting this lounge space? The only other lounge in the B2 pier is La Compagnie’s Lounge&Co, which is in the space of the former Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse (which closed suddenly in 2023).
Is there another space for lounges in the terminal that I’m not familiar with, or what am I missing? Or is the airline maybe taking over the former Art & Lounge space, which was located land side, but closed years ago.
Wherever the lounge is, Air France is pretty savvy when it comes to monetizing and controlling costs with its outstation lounges, so I have to imagine the airline sees a business case for this, and it could be open to Priority Pass members, act as a contract lounge for other airlines, etc.
At the same time, it definitely suggests to me that Air France is committed to Newark in the long run, or else the airline probably wouldn’t be opening a lounge.
Bottom line
Air France has to plans to open a lounge at Newark, an airport that the airline just started flying to in late 2022. I imagine this reflects Air France’s lack of lounge options at the airport. A lounge is a basic necessity for a transatlantic flight like this, and I imagine the airline could monetize this lounge so that it wouldn’t be that costly.
What do you make of plans for the Air France Lounge Newark?
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