Plaza Premium brings domestic lounges to Australia
The independent lounge specialist will open its first Flight Club space at Adelaide Airport.
By David Flynn, November 21 2024
Most travellers associate Plaza Premium with lounges and dining experiences at international airports, but the Hong Kong-based group is making a move on Australia’s domestic loungescape.
Adelaide is the launchpad for that push with the opening of a Flight Club lounge in the airport’s domestic departures hall in mid-2025.
Flight Club is Plaza Premium’s brand for a casual, dining-focussed lounge, with outposts in Malaysia, Indonesia and Oman, and this will be Plaza Premium’s first domestic terminal lounge in Oceania.
“Designed to cater to all travellers, Flight Club Adelaide will especially appeal to today’s digital-savvy generation, offering an accessible, premium experience at an affordable price,” the group says.
“The new Flight Club Adelaide aims to elevate the pre-flight and transit travel experience, while showcasing the best of South Australia by partnering with local suppliers to champion South Australian produce, creating a dining experience that reflects the richness of the region.”
Plaza Premium's Flight Club lounge in Kuala Lumpur.
As Plaza Premium Group Founder and CEO Song Hoi-puts it, “eating healthy is a global trend, and Flight Club is the latest addition to our series of airport dining brands encouraging all to travel and eat well.”
“Given that a substantial proportion of flights flying through Adelaide are domestic and this market is still growing, we believe there is a rising demand for airport hospitality experiences."
In addition to healthy food, the Flight Club bar serves specialty cocktails and coffee, chilled beers and cold-pressed signature juices, while travellers wanting a quick meal will find plenty of grab-and-go wraps.
Plaza Premium currently operates lounges at the international terminals of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Both Qantas and Virgin Australia have new-look lounges at Adelaide Airport, with Qantas recently giving its Qantas Club a total makeover and now working on an all-new Qantas Business Lounge due to open in mid-2025.
20 Feb 2012
Total posts 67
Interesting choice of Adelaide given both Virgin and Qantas lounges there.
Why not go for Cairns that has no Virgin lounge and incidentally the space from it?
01 Jul 2022
Total posts 3
Yes, Cairns Domestic T2 is very busy these days, and that's outside peak tourist season.
02 Jun 2013
Total posts 56
Is this actually a lounge? The images tend to suggest it is just another airport F&B outlet that anyone can walk up to and order something to eat and drink - I would be keen to understand how it works.
Also with QF and VA having their own well-established lounge offerings for regular flyers (including QF lounge access for eligible pax travelling on JQ), who are they looking to target here? Pricing will need to be attractive to attract sufficient numbers of passengers not already eligible to use one of the VA or QF lounges.
14 Oct 2016
Total posts 115
I can see why they would have chosen Adelaide is unlike Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, there is no silly business with the various Domestic airlines not being connected airside. I'd imagine the ability to have easy access to Virgin, Jetstar and Qantas passengers would be important, which is why if they do expand I could see Brisbane being the next port of call.
If there is enough business, I could see expansion to other airports too, including those that would require split operations. As long as they accept Priority Pass, I could see them being a magnet for Amex platinums.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
22 Feb 2020
Total posts 15
There are a number of airlines that would be happy to use them to host their Business class pax pre-flight.
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