Air France Proposes 6,129-Square-Foot Lounge At Newark Airport

SkyTeam Alliance carrier Air France has applied to open its seventh lounge in the United States at Newark Airport. According to filings with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, Air France will operate the lounge in Terminal B3.

Air France arrives in style

According to a meeting agenda seen by Simple Flying, Air France has requested to enter into a new seven-year lease (with three one-year extension options) for the use and occupancy of a 6,129-square-foot airline passenger lounge in Terminal B3 of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).

The airline is set to pay approximately $13.4 million over the initial term of the lease and make a minimum capital investment of $3 million to refurbish the lounge space. Air France returned to Newark in 2022 after a ten-year hiatus and continues to serve the airport with daily flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) on an Airbus A350.

Air France currently operates a network of six lounges across the United States. In neighboring New York, the airline has a 200+ seat space at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Additional locations can be found at Boston Logan (BOS), Los Angeles (LAX), Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental (IAH), Washington Dulles (IAD), and San Francisco (SFO), which reopened last year.

The choice to open a lounge in Newark is interesting as the majority of Air France and codeshare partner Delta Air Lines flights to Paris depart from New York JFK. However, as the airline’s premium customers currently do not have a designated lounge located near Air France’s departure gates, it would make sense to provide for them.

The airline’s other lounges often work with third-party providers like Priority Pass to offer space to paying customers during non-peak times.

Two other lounges have asked to stay

The Port Authority’s meeting agenda also included leases for two more lounge spaces in Terminal B. British Airways has agreed to pay approximately $13.2 million over the initial term of its new lease for the 8,200-square-foot British Airways Galleries Lounge it currently occupies in Terminal B, near Gates B50-58.

All-business class carrier La Compagnie has also requested a new lease for its 4,946 square feet of space to begin on or about December 1, 2024. The lease for the existing lounge expired on June 30, 2024, and La Compagnie is currently paying for occupancy on a month-to-month basis until the proposed new lease is in place. The agreement also confirmed that La Compagnie will spend at least $1.9 million refurbishing the lounge.

The news comes shortly after the Port Authority announced a significant upgrade to Newark’s Terminal B as part of its EWR Vision Plan. The plan calls for building a new, world-class international terminal to replace the current Terminal B and bring it up to the standards of the recently rebuilt Terminal A.

The current Terminal B has struggled to meet evolving passenger and industry needs, according to the Port Authority. When it opened in 1973, the terminal was designed to serve approximately 6.8 million annual passengers. Last year, it handled over 12 million.