In a bid to ease overcrowding and meet elevated demand, Delta Airlines Inc. on July 25 opened its second lounge at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport—a 14,000-square-foot space with a 360-degree bar and a sky deck, all just a few minutes’ walk away from its flagship lounge in the same terminal.
SkyClub T4-A, as it’s being referred to, is located on Concourse A, whereas than the old lounge is in Concourse B, so it’s positioned closer to gates for domestic flights. As such, it’s set up for different passenger needs. It’s smaller than the Concourse B location, with capacity for 250 rather than the other lounge’s 550 maximum; it will be open from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily versus 4:45 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. at Concourse B. It also skips certain amenities, such as showers, that are used primarily by travelers on overnight or long-haul routes.
In their place are features that better suit a short-haul business or leisure traveler. Four private, soundproof booths are designed for Zoom meetings, with enclosed doors and height-adjustable desks. A glassed-in, covered sky deck with ample seating—both at communal tables and individual window-side chairs—acts like a weather-proof patio with sweeping views of the airfield that can be enjoyed, even if it’s raining. (Maybe especially if it’s raining, given that storm-related delays will force more people into the lounge.) As with its other lounge locations, the airline now offers real-time information on its app about the SkyClub’s occupancy levels, ranging from “not busy” to “extremely busy.”
“Air traffic is at peak right now,” Claude Roussel, managing director of Delta’s SkyClubs division, tells Bloomberg at a media event for the opening of the Concourse A location. “We know that there are lines at some of our lounges, so we’ve been adjusting our policies and adding seats throughout the lounge system.” Earlier this year, he explains, the airline restricted lounge access to those customers whose departures are within three hours. “It’s had some good results for us,” he says.
Passenger volumes and lounge seats are growing in tandem. Delta has over 230 daily departures from JFK to 95 destinations this summer, part of a $1.5 billion expansion plan at that hub, which has been in development for the past year and a half. Roussel adds that Delta’s 10 new gates in Concourse A will feed additional foot traffic to the new lounge; this means that T4-A is not a solution for spillover traffic to T4-B, rather a lounge for an entirely different audience.
At the very least, good food awaits those who come. The menu comes courtesy of chef Elyssa Heller, founder and chief executive officer of Edith's Eatery & Grocery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with Jewish staples that include brisket hash sandwiches, vegetarian latkes and chocolate croissants. Around the buffet tables, white arches are meant to evoke the domes of New York’s Grand Central Station. And the bar serves up such signature drinks as Espresso Martinis and Watermelon Fizzes. The in-the-round design, parked in the very center of the lounge, is a further way to optimize capacity and spread out the inevitable crowds.
