Last year, Delhi Airport started to reclaim all the Lounge space it had handed out to various airlines, as well as the lounge operator Plaza Premium, for a large lounge to be opened at Delhi’s Terminal 3 International. This led to Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines closing down their Delhi Airport lounges, apart from the Allways Lounge, a premium offering from Plaza Premium at Delhi International Terminal 3 amongst others. At the moment, there is only one lounge, the Plaza Premium on Level 3 operational, but their contract is coming to an end soon, I am told.
Delhi T3 to get a new Unified Lounge for International passengers
On Delhi T3’s level 3, which is off limits for passengers at the moment, a new lounge is quietly taking shape, which will go online in September or October 2022. Work is on for this 600+ covers lounge, which aims to bring back hospitality to the lounge product as well, rather than the current offering which is about finding a seat to wait before you fly.
This lounge will be operated by Encalm Hospitality, which is a new lounge operator that came into business just a few months ago and opened its first lounge at Delhi Airport’s Terminal 1D. They also offer the Atithya, a Meet & Greet service at Delhi Airport. After the T3 International lounge, they will also open an arrival lounge at Delhi T3.
Hospitality is a concept that is making a comeback after a long time in Airport transits after everyone decided to downgrade their product to serve a huge market which is fuelled by the rapid expansion of financial and credit card products offering lounge access. Mumbai airport under GVK set the standard here, and recently Bengaluru Airport got a true hospitality lounge (The 080 Lounge).
Bottomline
Delhi Airport’s International Departures will get a new lounge for international customers in the coming months to be operated by a new lounge operator. When the new lounge goes live, the old one will go offline, as per current information.
What do you expect of the new lounge coming up at Delhi Airport Terminal 3’s International operations?
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If the new lounge is anything like BOM or BLR, then I’m all for it. But yes, also like you mention, the current state of affairs is about trying to find even a place to sit, let alone a nice food & drink option. It is very far from a premium experience. Hopefully that changes soon.
Small correction: Mumbai was operated by GVK, not GMR. GVK was also in charge of Bengaluru.
@VT-CIE, Oops. My bad mixing them up!
When I went thru Delhi’s international side last month the Plaza Premium Lounge at Level 4 was designated only for airline based access while the card based access was only at PPL at M level.