The Star Alliance has just announced the opening of its newest branded lounge, and it’s the brand’s first in Asia.
Star Alliance Lounge Guangzhou Airport basics
The Star Alliance has opened a lounge at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN), in China. The lounge has opened effective immediately, and follows standard Star Alliance lounge access policies, meaning it’s open to Star Alliance first and business class passengers, as well as Star Alliance Gold members.
The new 24/7 lounge is located in a dedicated space on the upper level of the existing GBIA lounge in the Terminal 1 international area. It’s not a very big lounge — it’s just 750 square meters (~8,100 square feet), with seating for 100 guests.
The lounge features a glass facade offering tarmac views, and amenities like workstations, and seating for both relaxation and productivity. There’s also a 100 square meter VIP room available upon request (which seems like a huge space to dedicate to this purpose, given how small the lounge is?). The lounge also has a bar, buffet, restrooms, and shower suites. Then there’s art from local artists, as well as a “tea appreciation corner, where guests can experience the region’s renowned tea culture.”
Interestingly, Star Alliance plans to open a second branded lounge at the same airport, in the upcoming Terminal 3. However, more details aren’t yet available about that.
At present, 10 Star Alliance airlines fly to Guangzhou, including Air China, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, and Turkish Airlines. Those airlines offer a total of 774 weekly departures, to 50 destinations, in 10 countries.
Below you can find some pictures of the new lounge (which doesn’t look particularly modern — obviously it’s just the repurposing of an existing space, with minimal investment).
Star Alliance’s current lounge network
For travelers, one of the major benefits of the global alliances is access to alliance lounges. While a vast majority of these are lounges operated by individual airlines, each alliance also has some branded lounges.
In the case of the Star Alliance, the company currently has lounges in Amsterdam (AMS), Buenos Aires (EZE), Guangzhou (CAN), Los Angeles (LAX), Paris (CDG), and Rio de Janeiro (GIG). Some of the alliance’s lounges are quite nice (like the one in Los Angeles), while some are a bit less impressive (like the new one in Guangzhou, based on the impression I get).
Star Alliance is tied with SkyTeam when it comes to the size of its branded lounge network. SkyTeam also has six lounges, in Dubai (DXB), Istanbul (IST), Santiago (SCL), Sao Paulo (GRU), Sydney (SYD), and Vancouver (YVR).
As a point of comparison, oneworld is the newest alliance to get into the lounge game, and currently has locations in Amsterdam (AMS) and Seoul Incheon (ICN).
Bottom line
The Star Alliance has opened its first branded lounge in Asia, located in Guangzhou Terminal 1. It’s always nice to have more alliance lounge options, though I wouldn’t expect this to be the most impressive lounge in the network, since it just takes up a small part of an existing lounge. Still, if you’re traveling through the airport, this new lounge option is something to keep in mind.
What do you make of the new Star Alliance Lounge Guangzhou?
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