If the holy grail of lounge design is about providing multifunctional spaces — including those that allow a passenger to spread out with a laptop or tablet, charge it (and their phone), and have space for a drink or snack — then Lufthansa’s modern new premium lounge at Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminal B is just such a treasure.
One-third of the 6,370 square feet lounge is dedicated to working and business needs, with ample universal power and USB A + C ports on offer, including under a portion of the sparkling new ‘skyline’ bar, as Runway Girl Network observed yesterday during a tour of the new facility. Wireless charging is also embedded into side tables, whilst two private rooms facilitate calls and meetings.
The rest of the airy space prioritizes relaxation with what the Star Alliance member calls “comfort seating options” targeted at different sized groups.
“No matter if you’re traveling alone as a passenger or as a group, you will find hopefully a spot where you can relax and enjoy our lounge,” Lufthansa vice president product & customer experience Victoria Schuster said.
“So roughly one third of the lounge is made for working and two thirds of the lounge are for relaxing and just enjoying yourself.”
The lounge caters specifically to Lufthansa Group’s First Class, Business Class, HON Circle members and Senator passengers. That includes premium passengers flying Lufthansa as well as sisters Austrian Airlines and SWISS. All three operate internationally from Terminal B at Newark, as do Star Alliance members Air Canada, SAS and United.
By offering this level of seating variety and options, Lufthansa can also meet the needs of passengers of different sizes, shapes, mobility and functional requirement.
“We’re trying to really accommodate everybody because we have a wide array of guests. Many travel alone on business, a lot travel in larger groups or with their families. So, we tried to provide a space for every type of customer,” Lufthansa senior director of brand management, customer experience and lounges Dr. Jessica Scheibach explained to RGN.
Want to sink into a squashy leather armchair? Lufthansa has you covered.
Keen on cocooning in a more private space? Those needs are addressed.
Perhaps you’re looking to work whilst making possible new connections? A communal desk awaits.
Private conversations and quiet working conditions are also accommodated.
Families traveling together, rejoice. There is an array of different seating options in the lounge.
Particularly pleasing is Lufthansa’s decision to adopt elements of its new Allegris generation of longhaul product in the lounge, namely in its First Class dining room, which is exclusive to First Class passengers and HON Circle members.
Dr. Scheibach noted that both the separated light oak paneling design and the dark blue leather upholstery of Allegris First Class have been carried over to the dining room.
But if you don’t have the proverbial credentials to enter this room, fear not. The wider lounge is quite stunning, and draws on the Allegris palette for key accent pieces.
A prior Lufthansa lounge occupied the space before the Covid pandemic. But under a roughly $10 million redesign, everything was ripped out and replaced.
The new Terminal B lounge can accommodate 165 guests, a 25% increase in capacity from the previous space, Lufthansa said. The ‘skyline’ bar, seen immediately on entry into the lounge, creates a bright and vibrant atmosphere.
Germany’s Kitzig Design Studios International spearheaded the design project, and some 30 Newark-area companies contributed to the final product. In addition to touches from Allegris, “it’s also an homage to New Jersey. So we tried to incorporate that local touch from New Jersey in the design,” Schuster said.
Indeed, local flavor abounds inside the lounge, even from a dining perspective, with Schuster noting that passengers can grab a craft beer from New Jersey.
Intriguingly, for its next project, Lufthansa Group is looking at “even more flexibility in space”, Dr. Scheibach revealed to RGN. So, it will not only provide different types of seating “but seating that can be rearranged, that we can flexibly address more” passengers.
“That is something that we feel is very, very strongly asked for by our customers,” she said.
Lufthansa is currently heavily involved in lounge renovation work and new concepts for Washington Dulles and New York JFK. And a lot can be done in its home market hubs of Frankfurt and Munich, where Dr. Scheibach told us to expect changes, in addition to a few other ongoing projects.
“Lufthansa Group is investing 2.5 billion euro into product enhancements up until 2025, and investments in our lounges are an important part of this,” said Dirk Janzen, vice president passenger airlines sales, The Americas, Lufthansa Group, in a statement.
“The quality of the overall customer experience, on the ground and onboard, is of utmost importance to us, and therefore upgrades, refurbishments and newly introduced products are occurring at a rapid pace.”
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All images credited to the author, Mary Kirby
