The oneworld alliance has began the method of opening its personal branded lounges. We lately noticed the opening of the primary two lounges, at Seoul Incheon Airport (ICN) and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS). Whereas I can’t personally vouch for this, there’s a (logical) rumor relating to one of many subsequent doable places for the lounge community…
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Manchester not within the playing cards
In 2019, Virgin Atlantic introduced plans to open a Clubhouse at Manchester Airport (MAN). The plan was initially for this lounge to open in 2020, although if I recall accurately, one thing huge occurred that 12 months. 😉
Practically 5 years later, it appears fairly clear that Virgin Atlantic has given up on its Clubhouse plans in Manchester, as there are not any indicators of this lounge. For that matter, it’s logical that Virgin Atlantic would not wish to put money into a lounge right here.
Not solely is the airline making an attempt to return to profitability, however Virgin Atlantic retired many planes at first of the pandemic, limiting the provider’s progress. At this level, Virgin Atlantic’s community out of Manchester additionally isn’t big — the airline flies to Atlanta (ATL), New York (JFK), and Orlando (MCO) year-round, and flies to Barbados (BGI) and Las Vegas (LAS) seasonally.
Will a oneworld lounge open in Manchester as an alternative?
Twitter/X person @SPD_travels has an attention-grabbing replace relating to the lounge scenario in Manchester, which makes fairly a little bit of sense. This confirms that Virgin Atlantic not plans to open a Clubhouse in Manchester.
As a substitute, a brand new alliance lounge will likely be opening on the airport. It’s not acknowledged what that alliance is, but it surely’s fairly clearly that oneworld is being referenced, primarily based on the point out of it being an alliance that’s lately rising its lounge community, and which is seeing new service to the airport.
Now, logistically, does it make sense for oneworld to open a lounge in Manchester? Manchester is served by many oneworld airways, and presently doesn’t have any oneworld lounges, however fairly clients are despatched to contract lounges.
The oneworld airways on the airport embrace British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, and Royal Jordanian. On high of that, Aer Lingus operates some transatlantic flights out of Manchester. Whereas the airline doesn’t belong to the oneworld alliance, it’s a part of the oneworld transatlantic three way partnership.
The terminal logistics restrict which oneworld passengers might use this lounge, although, at the very least in the interim. This lounge could be positioned in Terminal 2, so which means some oneworld passengers wouldn’t have entry:
- Finnair operates from Terminal 1, whereas British Airways and Iberia function from Terminal 3; nevertheless, these airways are anticipated to finally transfer to Terminal 2
- In the meantime Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, and Royal Jordanian, function from Terminal 2; on high of that there’s Aer Lingus, which might very properly ship its passengers to this lounge
So it’s not the world’s greatest oneworld presence proper now, however that can enhance in the long term. It positively looks as if there’s extra benefit to working a oneworld Lounge right here than a Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. Solely time will inform how this performs out, so it’s anybody’s guess when the lounge might open, how huge it may very well be, and so forth.
In equity, arguably there could be simply as a lot benefit to opening a SkyTeam Lounge or Star Alliance Lounge, since each of these alliances even have a big presence on the airport.
Backside line
Whereas we’ll must mark this as “creating” for now, it seems to be just like the oneworld alliance is perhaps opening a lounge at Manchester Airport, within the house that was speculated to be a Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. Virgin Atlantic has reportedly scrapped plans to open its personal lounge on the airport, so it appears logical for oneworld to step in and use this house, given the alliance’s lounge targets.
What do you make of the prospect of oneworld opening a lounge at Manchester Airport?
