Air New Zealand's $NZ100m lounge roll-out hits Melbourne

Air New Zealand’s $NZ100 million ($US69m) roll-out of new lounges continued with the opening Tuesday of a bigger facility at Melbourne International Airport facility catering for almost 250 guests. The Kiwi carrier’s four-year program to develop the airline’s network of lounges has already seen new facilities in Sydney and Brisbane in Australia, Nadi in Fiji and Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown, Hamilton and Invercargill in New Zealand. It also plans to open a new lounge in Perth by the end of this year. The new Melbourne lounge is 50 per cent bigger and follows the modern design theme of its Sydney counterpart created in conjunction with award-winning global architectural firm Gensler and Australian based design firm Marsden Collective. It offers five different spaces allowing customers to relax and refresh or get some work done and includes a self-service food buffet, two self-service drink stations and a barista station. Air New Zealand general manager customer experience Anita Hawthorne said the airline had been investing heavily in the Australian market, including its ‘Better Way to Fly’ campaign starring Dave the goose encouraging to travel Air New Zealand to North and South America. The carrier has targeted Australians in cities such as Perth and Adelaide who face one-stop services to the Americas through East Coast airports, arguing they are better off connecting through Auckland.