Emirates sitting pretty with new Johannesburg lounge
Emirates moved to further cushion passengers from travel weariness last month by officially opening a brand new luxury lounge in Johannesburg.
Leather armchairs, complimentary gourmet chef prepared food, refreshing drinks, reading material and shower facilities now await premium passengers at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport, courtesy of the award winning airline.
This is Emirates' first exclusive lounge in Africa and the sixth to be opened this year on its ever broadening route network. Throughout 2009, lounges have opened in Hamburg, Manchester, Dusseldorf, Mumbai, Beijing, and in the months ahead Birmingham will come on stream, representing investment of more than Dhs 266 million (US$ 72 million).
Mohammed Mattar, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice President, Airport Services, who was in Johannesburg for the opening, said: “At Emirates, we are constantly investing in the comfort of our passengers and rewarding loyalty by providing high quality service offerings. This lounge is another example of our dedication to offering the very best to our customers.”
The lounge, with seating for 135 guests, contains flat screen televisions for the latest TV news, an extensive collection of international and local newspapers, magazines and a state-of-the-art business centre with free internet access.
Dedicated lounge staff are on hand at the facility, located on the Mezzanine level of the airport's Duty Free Mall, between boarding gates A4 and A7. It is open to Emirates' First and Business Class passengers, along with Gold Skywards members.
Johannesburg becomes the 26th lounge on the Emirates' route network. Dedicated lounges can also be enjoyed in Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Brisbane, Dubai (3), Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Manchester, Melbourne, Mumbai, Munich, New York - JFK, Paris - Charles de Gaulle, Perth, Singapore, Sydney and Zurich.
The seamless premium service in the air and on the ground includes Emirates chauffeur-drive service, dedicated check in counters and priority baggage handling.
The Dubai-based carrier has launched two new routes in 2009, Durban and Luanda, and has so far promised two more for 2010, declaring Toyko for 28th March and Amsterdam from 1st May. More new destinations are in the pipeline.
This month, the airline is expecting delivery of two further A380s, deploying them to Seoul on 14th December and Paris two weeks later. The number of super-jumbos in the fleet will then rise to seven.
