QANTAS: Adelaide Qantas Club lounge opens. Premium passengers no longer access the Chairman’s Lounge

Last week, on Thursday, 14 November, we saw the informal opening of the refurbished Qantas Club Lounge in Adelaide. The word is it’s a vast improvement and possibly the nicest Qantas Club in the country. Unfortunately, we still only have the 3D renders, so it’s hard to tell.

Qantas is in the process of completing a major upgrade and expansion of the Qantas lounges at Adelaide Airport. The revamp will see the creation of a Business Lounge where Adelaide previously had a combined Business and Club Lounge. The lounge footprint will be increased, allowing for more capacity. It is also expected that the out-of-date Chairman’s Lounge will also get an update to make it look more like the Brisbane Chairman’s Lounge.

Interim Lounge

All eligible for Qantas Lounge access will now be directed to the new Club Lounge. That means Qantas Club Members, Chairman’s Lounge Members and everyone in between, including Gold and Platinum members.

During the refurbishment of the Adelaide Qantas Club Lounge, premium members were directed to what used to be the Chairman’s lounge. It doesn’t look like the Marc Newson Chairman’s Club design aesthetic ever reached Adelaide. Hopefully, the new Qantas chief designer, David Caon, an ex-Adelaide boy, will be represented in the new Chairman’s Club design.

Former Chairman’s Lounge

I’ve visited the old Chairman’s Club Lounge a couple of times. It is quite dated in its design aesthetic, with dark wood, padded walls, and camel-leather-covered chairs.

Now, half the joy of the Chairman’s lounge, I am told, is the service, food, and beverage you receive. That was missing now that the space has been downgraded to a Business Lounge. Still, it is, on the whole, a quieter space than the old Lounge, and its area dividers do offer more privacy.

F&B was nothing to write home about. I presume a temporary downgrade was in order before the Business Lounge is rolled out in mid-2025, with a new Chairman’s Lounge coming in the third quarter of 2025.

Still to come

The new Business Lounge is still to come, scheduled for mid-2025. Its design reportedly draws inspiration from the colours and textures of Kangaroo Island. Under Marc Newson, Qantas moved from a universal design approach to its lounges to some regionality within an agreed-upon design language under David Caon.

Capacity limitations

While construction is continuing, there are some limitations on Club entry. The major restriction will be on Lounge passes, which will not be honoured until the new Business Lounge is opened in mid-2025. That includes Complimentary Lounge Invitations and Qantas Lounge Passes.

There will also be capacity restrictions at busy times, given that the Qantas Club is currently smaller than the previous Club. Once all the renovations are complete, the three spaces—the club, Business, and Chairman’s lounge—will accommodate 10% more guests.

2PAXfly Takeout

If my memory serves me well, the Adelaide Qantas Club opened around February 2006. Although the new Adelaide Airport terminal opened in October 2005, its fuel delivery system was plagued with issues caused by debris left in the pipes during construction and the anti-rust agent used to coat the interior of the pipes. This was not resolved until 2006, when full domestic jet flying started from the new terminal.

At that time my memory is that the Adelaide Qantas Club offered service midway between Business and standard Qantas Club, and was seen as a new combined model for the future of Qantas Lounges. In the 2006 Qantas Annual Report it was hailed as:

“The newest and most advanced Qantas Club lounge in Australia.”

Qantas Annual Report 2006

Back then, I had never been in a Qantas Business Class domestic lounge, so I was impressed with the service level in Adelaide which was a step above the standard Club experience.

My, how times change. Adelaide Airport had an upgrade and expansion in the meantime, and the old Qantas Club was no longer the ‘most advanced.