[PHOTOS] ANA Reveals Details of New Narita Airport Lounge
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While All Nippon Airways will eagerly grow at Tokyo Haneda airport, Tokyo Narita will continue to be an important hub, evidenced by ANA’s plan for a third departure lounge that will open on March 29. The design of the new lounge will be in line with its new cabin products, bridging the passenger experience while providing the amenities travelers know ANA for, including a noodle bar and priority seating.
The focus in Japan this year is the significant international expansion at the conveniently located Tokyo Haneda airport. Yet even with this growth at Haneda, Tokyo Narita airport will remain part of All Nippon Airways’ dual-hub strategy in Tokyo, the country’s largest travel center.
ANA is reinforcing its position at Narita by opening its third departure lounge. It’s the first airport lounge in Tokyo to be conceived by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, who also designed ANA’s new business- and first-class seats, currently being rolled out, as well as the recently completed stadium for this summer’s Olympics. Kuma’s lounge has similar aesthetics to the cabin products, providing a more consistent passenger experience from ground to air, as airlines seek a more integrated and less disjointed journey. China Airlines previously opened a new lounge at its Taipei hub with a design to match its new long-haul cabin products.
Kuma’s lounge design calls for a showpiece entrance with a “Yamato-kabe” wood wall meant to be warm and inviting, matching the natural aesthetics of the onboard product, which has textures meant to evoke wood grain and rice paper. Inside the lounge, the focus is on clean lines, open spaces and a bright atmosphere. The lounge will continue to have a buffet and noodle bar.
The lounge will be in Narita’s terminal one satellite two, offering a closer lounge option to passengers in that part of the terminal rather than have to go to the further satellites four and five, where ANA’s existing lounges are. Despite the name, the “satellites” are integrated with the terminal and the terminology is more of a way to specify which part of the terminal a feature is in.
ANA sees benefit in further spreading out its lounges. “Many of our passengers traveling through Asia pass through Narita Airport. Ensuring that these passengers can easily access one of ANA’s lounges no matter where they are located in the airport exemplifies ANA’s commitment to Japanese hospitality and passenger convenience,” ANA SVP Hideki Kunugi said in a statement. Typical of Japanese thoughtfulness, the lounge is wheelchair accessible and has priority seating areas.
The lounge is scheduled to open March 29, the same day many of ANA’s new Haneda flights will begin. With this Haneda slot increase being the last for the foreseeable future, further international growth is pegged for Narita, so the lounge will likely grow in popularity as passenger throughput expands.
The overall lounge design has the philosophy of “Ichigo ichie,” which means “treasure every encounter as if it were once in a lifetime.” With the lounge also open to frequent flyers, passengers may have many repeat encounters.