LOUNGES: New lounges for Adelaide and Auckland, Qantas and Air New Zealand

The new Qantas Adelaide Business Lounge is set to open next week. A new Premium Lounge for Air New Zealand at Auckland Airport is scheduled for 2026.

Adelaide Qantas Business Lounge

This is scheduled for opening on Friday, 16 May 2025, according to ET. If I can remind you, the combined Business and Qantas Club Lounge along with the Chairman’s Lounge were shuttered in 2024, to be re-opened as three separate lounges: Chairman’s Lounge, Business Lounge and Qantas Club.

The Qantas Club lounge, or at least part of it, opened earlier this year. Now, the newly separated Adelaide Qantas Business Lounge for Business Class and Platinum frequent flyers will open. This will be a pleasant relief since the current facilities have been overcrowded for months while the new lounge was being constructed.

There is no word on the new Chairman’s lounge, but when it is completed, three lounges will form the new Qantas Adelaide Lounge precinct.

The new Business lounge will have a capacity for 200 guests and takes design inspiration from the Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island. Expect a sense of place to also be reflected in the food and beverage offering, showcasing South Australian produce. While the business lounges in Perth have Pizza, and in Melbourne have Asian soup bowls, we are in the dark as to what the Adelaide lounge will feature.

Expect all mod cons, especially table top charging and USB-A and USB-C outlets.

Auckland Air New Zealand Business Class Lounge

This new separate lounge will be available to Business Class flyers. It is hoped that elite tiers of Star Alliance frequent flyer schemes will also be admitted. Construction is expected to take 11 to 12 months. The project will commence in the next 6 months, which means a probable opening in mid-2026.

The new lounge will emerge from a complete overhaul of the Auckland International Lounge, which opened in 2015.

The current lounge suffers from overcrowding, so it will take on some new space to accommodate the new Elite lounge.

Details are a bit scarce on the facilities to be provided. They will need to service Airponts Elite members, and the promised Elite plus status. Members of the invitation-only Elite Priority One program will also need to be accomodated.

2PAXfly Takeout

I always love a new lounge! I particularly look forward to the new Qantas Business Lounge for Adelaide, since it is one of my frequent destinations.

I’m a fan of the Air New Zealand International lounge in Sydney, but have not visited the Auckland equivalent.

Air NZ appears to be lifting its game. It has a bunch of new aircraft soon to arrive, a new uniform designed, ready for introduction in 2026, and now a new international lounge complex in Auckland.

Note to self: must put Air New Zealand on my cabin experience agenda. I haven’t travelled with them for years.