Qantas will open its new lounge at Singapore's Changi Airport on the evening of Thursday April 11, following an official ribbon-cutting event held in the lounge from 2pm that day.

Standout features of the Qantas Singapore Lounge will include "a bespoke dining experience featuring Neil Perry’s Spice Temple inspired dishes and signature cocktails", the airline says, with slightly differentiated service for top-tier Platinum and Platinum One frequent flyers.

As with Qantas First lounges in Sydney and Melbourne the Singapore facility will be managed under contract by Sofitel, and in the early days travellers should expect to see some familiar smiling faces from the Sydney First lounge on their arrival at the Qantas Singapore Lounge.

The airline pushed back the opening of the all-new Qantas Singapore Lounge from the original planned date of Sunday March 31, with a Qantas spokesman telling Australian Business Traveller that "the lounge is nearly complete (but) there's been a slight delay as the finishing touches are applied."

Until Thursday, Qantas says that access to other lounges at Changi T1 remains as per previous arrangements (see 'Temporary lounge access arrangements' further down in this article).

Australian Business Traveller will be travelling to Singapore for the opening of the Qantas Singapore Lounge, so keep an eye on our @AusBT Twitter account on Thursday April 11 for first photos and details, with a full feature on the lounge to follow.

Previous | Qantas will open its new lounge at Singapore's Changi Airport on March 31 and is promising "a new standard of luxury" for travellers as part of the airline's renewed focus on Singapore as a destination rather than a stopover point for Kangaroo Route flights to London.

Dubbed the Qantas Singapore Lounge, the all-new facility is being built in the footprint of the previous Qantas Business Lounge in Terminal 1 and according to Qantas, "will offer a new standard of luxury for Qantas customers travelling from Singapore."

It will replace both that lounge and the First Lounge shared between Qantas and British Airways as part of the Qantas-BA joint venture which will dissolve on March 31 as the Qantas-Emirates alliance comes into effect.

As Australian Business Traveller first reported in September last year, Qantas will no longer have a first class lounge in Singapore, based on the rationale that with the airline's flagship Airbus A380s moving onto the Sydney-Dubai-London route Qantas would in effect have no first class passengers heading to or from Singapore.

As previously reported, British Airways will take over the space used by the original shared Qantas/BA First Class lounge (which is now the temporary Business Lounge) to create what the airline describes as "an integrated First and Club World lounge for British Airways customers", although this will also be available to eligible Qantas travellers under the oneworld alliance's reciprocal lounge access agreement.

Temporary lounge access arrangements

With the Qantas business lounge now closed for construction, the following arrangements have been made for Qantas travellers:

  • Qantas First passengers and Platinum One Frequent Flyers have access to the Emirates Lounge (Level 3, Departure Transit Area: turn left after immigration and take the first escalator in front of Gate C1 to Level 3)
  • Qantas Platinum Frequent Flyers have access to the current temporary Qantas/British Airways Business Lounge, which was formerly the First Class lounge (yes, we know it gets confusing!)
  • Qantas Business passengers and Qantas Gold Frequent Flyers have access to the SATS Premier Lounge (Level 3, Departure Transit Area: turn left after immigration and take the first escalator on your right to Level 3)
  • Qantas Club members and Jetstar Business Max passengers will be able to use the Rainforest Lounge (Level 3, Departure Transit Area: turn left after immigration and take the first escalator in front of Gate C1 to Level 3)

However, there's another option for most Qantas travellers – including business class, Platinum and Gold frequent flyers – and that's to head for the Skyview lounge down the far end of Terminal 1 near gate D30, about five to ten minutes' walk from the Qantas/BA lounge area. We reckon the Skyview beats the SATS Premier Lounge hands-down.

Jointly operated by Cathay Pacific and Dubai airport authority dnata, the Skyview lounge offers a great choice of food, especially if you like Asian dishes, and there's both an "inside" quiet lounge (relatively hidden, towards the rear of the lounge and up a flight of stairs) and an "outside" lounge exposed to the hubbub of the terminal. 

Qantas also plans to upgrade its first class lounge in Hong Kong and business lounge in Los Angeles this year, with a new LAX first class lounge to follow in 2014.

For the latest business travel and frequent flyer news, follow Australian Business Traveller on Twitter: we're  @AusBT.