00:00Liverpool John Lennon Airport has been celebrating its latest upgrade, a new lounge in the departure terminal.
00:07Liverpool City Council leader, Councillor Liam Robinson, was on hand to officially open the facilities.
00:12It's a symbol of how well the airport's doing, it's a symbol of how well the city's doing.
00:17Because if you think about the airport alone, the month of August was a record month for passengers in the airport's entire 92-year history, which is really, really significant.
00:28And you think about all the hard work that the airport team has been putting in in recent years, particularly bringing in new airlines like Jet2, the number of different destinations, the number of passengers going through.
00:39And let's be honest, it's a key part of how the city's growing when you think about the number of people from the city, the wider region, and actually that whole catchment area the airport's got.
00:48The new Aspire Executive Lounge is operated by Swissport and replaces their previous smaller lounge, which first opened its doors in May 2012.
00:56It became so popular with airport users that despite a previous expansion and refurbishment, a new, much larger facility was needed to cater for the continued growing demand.
01:07Well, a key part of the design ethos was really celebrating Liverpool.
01:11So we've got loads of different design queues in here that come to life over time.
01:15We've got everything from the colour palette for Voliva Birds at reception, we've got Scylla Black to my right, we've got a purple wheelie bin on the mural to my left, which we hope people discover over time.
01:27Artwork from the Beatles, we've got it all and it celebrates this amazing city.
01:31From an employee perspective, we've got 40 people working here now, that's doubled in size, so we've created 20 local jobs which supports the local economy.
01:40Three times the floor space of the previous facility, the lounge is able to cater for twice as many guests, with space for over 200 passengers.
01:48There's also an adults-only premium Luxe Lounge on offer for the first time too.
01:53Yeah, so this lounge has a classic section of about 150 seats and it has a Luxe section of circa 50.
01:58In Luxe, it's a bit of a step up, there's a slightly enhanced food and beverage offering, the furniture, the environment is stepped up and there's no children.
02:13So what we're seeing in Luxe is the fact that it might be couples, it might be small groups, but just a slightly different environment for them.
02:19The airport's been named as a which-recommended provider for the fourth consecutive year.
02:25Passengers praised the quick, efficient process and the friendliness of the staff here.
02:30When we think about how strong our inbound visitor economy is, with things like the month of July seeing the highest number of overnight hotel stays in the city ever,
02:41that really sort of shows the strength of the inbound visitor economy as well.
02:45So it's a key component, a really key asset in how we kind of drive the city forward.
02:50And to see investments like this wonderful lounge, that's exactly what a big European and global city like our own should always have.
02:57Fantastic to be here.
Comments