antas is bringing back its Hong Kong lounge with the popular char siu Chinese barbecued pork bar.
Barely two years after the Qantas Hong Kong Lounge was shuttered and gutted in the midst of the pandemic, the popular haunt of business class travellers and frequent flyers is set to make a triumphant return after being declared permanently closed.
Executive Traveller can confirm the Qantas Hong Kong lounge will once more swing open its doors on May 4, in a move which reflects continued growth for travel to the Asian metropolis.
Visitors will see the same familiar space, which has sat eerily empty since March 2020, although a refresh is now underway because most of the furniture was sent back to Australia when Qantas decided to scrap the lounge.
When it reopens on May 4, travellers will delight to the familiar char siu Chinese barbecued pork bar and the yum cha trolley of pre-flight delights such as dumplings and mango tarts.
The Qantas Hong Kong Lounge is located across from gate 5 and adjacent to Cathay Pacific’s The Deck, which may well tempt some Qantas passengers across to sample the delights of its Noodle Bar.
When it reopens on May 4, travellers will delight to the familiar char siu Chinese barbecued pork bar and the yum cha trolley of pre-flight delights such as dumplings and mango tarts.
The Qantas Hong Kong Lounge is located across from gate 5 and adjacent to Cathay Pacific’s The Deck, which may well tempt some Qantas passengers across to sample the delights of its Noodle Bar.
When Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce announced the closure of the lounge in mid-2020 he remarked the airline had “looked at everything that we needed in individual markets” in planning its post-pandemic recovery, and “in Hong Kong we’ve come to a relationship with Cathay to use their premium lounges there… and we think that’s the best arrangement.”
As a result, since the January 30 restart of Qantas flights to Hong Kong, the airline has been sending business class passengers, top-tier frequent flyers and Chairman’s Lounge members to Cathay Pacific lounges, with Qantas Club card-holders heading to the independent Plaza Premium Lounge.
Of course, Qantas has to pay a per-passenger fee to Cathay Pacific and Plaza Premium – and as its flights to Hong Kong ramp up, so will those costs.
Executive Traveller understands that reduced leasing rates at Hong Kong airport have become a positive factor in balancing the books to support what is only a handful of daily Qantas flights.
However, in the years since it first opened in April 2014 the Qantas Hong Kong Lounge was also patronised by contracted airlines such as Finnair, Japan Airlines, Air France and KLM, amounting to an extra revenue stream for the Flying Kangaroo.
