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Airlines around the world are competing on land in order to overcome the economic slump. Competition over luxury lounges at airports has begun in order to attract wealthy, first-class passengers.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Deutsche Lufthansa AG opened a 12,000 sq. m lounge featuring a full-service spa, spacious bathrooms with whirlpool tubs, and a bar offering 84 different single-malt whiskeys, at Frankfurt Airport. Fliers get zipped to and from planes in Mercedes limousines or Porsche Cayenne sport-utility vehicles. Lufthansa has invested more than US$190 million to upgrade airport lounge services for its first-class passengers.
American Airlines, the biggest U.S. carrier, plans to renovate more than 75 percent of its airport lounges around the world by the end of this year. Australian airline Qantas has opened luxury lounges at airports in Asia, competing with Singapore Airlines, ranked top in terms of service, for customers.
Airlines are boosting services for first-class customers, even while cutting back on flights as passenger traffic declines amid the global economic slump. Attracting wealthy fliers seems to be the key to survival. Oliver Wagner, Lufthansa's vice president for global airport products and services, said after the airline opened the worldĄŻs first dedicated first-class terminal at its Frankfurt hub in 2004, traffic by its highest-paying customers jumped as much as 25 percent. "That really proved the value of the investment," he said.
The heated competition in airport lounges partly stems from the fact that new ideas for in-flight services have virtually dried up, the Journal reports. Until now, airlines have provided first-class passengers with seats that spread flat, adjustable screens with a wide selection of movies, and freshly brewed espressos. But first-class fliers are apparently taking those perks for granted, prompting carriers to wage wars on land.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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