Delhi Airport is currently undergoing an expansion spree, and the first part of that expansion is underway with an expanded Terminal 3 International Pier. Subsequently, a new pier will be constructed for domestic flights as well. Work is currently ongoing.
Delhi T3’s American Express Lounge Shuts down
American Express is the only bank in India to offer its own stand-alone lounges. In a country where airport operators are getting into the lounge business, and massive queues outside contract lounges form because of the complimentary lounge access offered by almost all debit and credit cards, the USP of American Express is its exclusive lounges for domestic transit passengers in Delhi and Mumbai. They also have a network of global lounges accessible to Platinum and Centurion Cardmembers.
American Express re-opened the Delhi T3 Domestic Centurion Lounge in March 2021 after a significant renovation. Since then, traffic at Delhi Airport has peaked, and from time to time, lounges have been shut. For instance, the Plaza Premium Lounges at Delhi Airport were shut (pretty unceremoniously), and Vistara’s customers were left to eat at an airport eatery until Encalm opened a lounge. The American Express Lounge was reopened in mid-2023 but has been shut down again as of December 31, 2025.
Passengers eligible to access the American Express Centurion Lounge at Delhi Terminal 3 can now use the Domestic T3 Encalm Lounge, with a special area set aside for them, as during the last shutdown. So that is a significant loss of exclusivity linked with the American Express Platinum Card. This space might be dished out to Air India for their new domestic lounge, as they won’t be keeping the new domestic lounge at the mezzanine level when they start work on it.
American Express to open a new Centurion Lounge at Terminal 1
According to the communication from American Express to cardmembers, the Amex Centurion Lounge will move to Terminal 1 in New Delhi, where the airport operator might have some space to offer them. The lounge will reopen at the new location by March 2026, as per American Express. Which is a good decision from the perspective of GMR Group/Delhi Airport, but it totally beats me. The terminal most suitable for use by a typical Amex Platinum Cardmember is T3, not T1. The airport operator might have done a lot better by asking RuPay to leave the T3 and set up shop at T1.
The lounges open at Delhi T3 Domestic currently are:
- Encalm for Credit Card-based lounge access
- Air India Lounge for Air India customers and Star Alliance Gold customers
- RuPay Lounge for RuPay Credit Card Holders
Bottomline
The Centurion Lounge at Delhi Terminal 3 has been shut down and will now open at Terminal 1. For the time being, customers can head to the Encalm Lounge as a replacement for the Amex Centurion Lounge.
What do you make of the closure of the Amex Lounge at Delhi T3 Domestic?
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I’d completely forgotten about the RuPay lounge since I didn’t have a RuPay card for the longest time.
Recently added a RuPay Select card with lounge access. Now I just hope I remember to go there instead of automatically walking into Encalm like I always do.