Air New Zealand: Australian lounges to reopen – starting 30 March 2022

All 3 international lounges in Australia are to re-open ready for the resumption of travel between Australia and New Zealand on 13 April.

The rollout starts with Sydney (30 March), Perth (5 April), and then Melbourne and Brisbane (6 April).

Back over in actual New Zealand, the Wellington international lounge is set to open on April Fools Day (1 April), and the Auckland lounge will extend its hours from the current closing time of 3:30 pm to accommodate evening flights

The Fiji Lounge in Nadi is set to open on 8 April.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Fantastic news! I’m looking forward to sample some of these lounges when I head to New Zealand in July.

The Pandemic sure has shaken up the lounge industry, with Qantas permanently closing its lounges in Hong Kong, Tokyo Narita, and the T1 International terminal in Perth

The other good news is the reopening of Qantas International Business lounges in Sydney and Melbourne from Sunday 27 March, and the return of the Qantas First lounges to full service.