Qantas passengers flying through Karratha Airport will find a new Qantas Regional Lounge awaiting their departure from May 18, now located upstairs past security screening.
The new space offers seating for up to 80 guests being nearly three times as large as the lounge it replaces, incorporating design elements from the Pilbara landscape with vibrant reds and oranges reflecting the arid land and muted greens representing the native flora.
Floor-to-ceiling windows bring some much-needed natural light to the lounge, along with tarmac views from many of the casual chairs and seats at the laptop bench…
… with a variety of other zones catering to solo flyers, duos and groups – with a number of seats on their lonesome for when you just need some ‘me time’:
In the centre of the lounge, a buffet zone provides a selection of food and a bar area offers a choice of Australian wine and beer, which you can enjoy at the nearby bar stools or elsewhere in the lounge:
Televisions with Foxtel are also available in these zones, while a quieter nook can be found adjacent to reception, along with newspapers and magazines.
“As the only airline to offer a lounge at Karratha Airport, the new space is a great value-add for travellers from the Pilbara community as well as the important Fly-in Fly-out market,” said Qantas Regional Manager of Western Australia, Julian Barry.
“The lounge has been designed with our most frequent flyers mind. It accommodates the mix of corporate, leisure and fly-in fly-out workers with added space to work and relax, while showcasing the beauty of the natural landscape through design,” Barry added.
Qantas and QantasLink run up to 43 return flights each week between Perth and Karratha, with this lounge welcoming business class passengers plus Platinum One, Platinum and Gold frequent flyers and Qantas Club members booked in economy.
Also invited are Platinum and Gold flyers of both Emirates Skywards and China Eastern’s Eastern Miles program, along with Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire cardholders departing on Qantas and QantasLink flights.
Qantas opened a new domestic business class lounge at Perth Airport in 2015 – its sole destination from Karratha – and will also launch non-stop flights from Perth to London in March 2018.
Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
23 Oct 2013
Total posts 699
This is the sort of thing I could see both VA/QF rolling out to almost all airports around Australia provided they have the space (and it doesn't have to be that big).
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 645
Currently VA has a miserly 4 'non capital city' lounges Australia wide, and are in the process of abandoning many regional centres, so good luck seeing VA rolling out ANYTHING. QF currently has 16, and are rejuvenating/making them bigger. Draw your own conclusions :)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Jul 2014
Total posts 143
The Regional Lounge concept is great, they're generally low maintenance but allow you provide a premium feature at a smaller airport
25 Oct 2012
Total posts 11
That looks better than the Qantas Club in Adelaide. nice and modern and open.
16 Feb 2016
Total posts 30
Yet another reason why QF is the number one carrier for corporate/premium pax. Their lounge network is well developed
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
28 Oct 2014
Total posts 18
You obviously haven't used to the Sydney and Auckland business lounges recently, or compared to Air NZ's alternative. Quite pathetic in the home base of Sydney, that Air NZ's standard business or "club lounge" as such, it at a level miles ahead of the Qantas equivalent. Surely in your home base you need to show who's boss...?!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Jul 2016
Total posts 105
Go to Brisbane or Perth business lounges, you will be impressed. That is the product that is expected to be rolled out to Melbourne and Sydney. (I presume)
16 Nov 2011
Total posts 580
Been said many times about many an airline subject. Just because something new and shiny comes along, doesn't mean what is "old" needs replacing right then and there. Qantas with their loounges updates a few each year, so yeah the older ones will start to look dated, which they are, but doesn't mean they are not still functional and suits the purpose. A good example is Canberra. Compared to these new lounges, even Canberra is looking dates, but reality is it is only about 6 years old. Hardly time to rush in the bulldozers.
Air New Zealand - Airpoints
10 Aug 2015
Total posts 79
So much better than the previous box!!
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1560
Looks better than international business lounge in Melbourne.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 May 2013
Total posts 381
This is a great looking regional lounge. Meanwhile, as usual, it was standing room only at QF's Hobart lounge last week. The place is tiny and totally inadequate for Hobart. Then there's the saga of Virgin announcing a Hobart lounge years ago but still no progress...
03 May 2013
Total posts 680
Qantas needs to set aside areas for plats / plat 1's. Not a seperate lounge but generally away from all the crowds and families(read babies toddlers screaming who are less likely to be present in such an area). SIN HKG PER are all concrete floored playgrounds while modern, great food, service etc really lack any warmth. That said BNE's new dom J lounge is lovely.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Sep 2011
Total posts 24
This is very welcome - the old box was well past it's use by date.
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