Delta Air Lines has just revealed the next location for its premium international lounge network, and it’s not the airport that I would’ve expected…
Delta One Lounge planned for SLC
We’re finally seeing Delta One Lounges come to life. The Delta One Lounge New York (JFK) and Delta One Lounge Los Angeles (LAX) have opened recently. Then the Delta One Lounge Boston (BOS) is supposed to open in December 2024, while the Delta One Lounge Seattle (SEA) is supposed to open in early 2025.
We’ve now learned about the location for the fifth lounge in the network, as reported by Sean Cudahy, and confirmed to me by a Delta spokesperson. There are plans for a Delta One Lounge to open at Salt Lake City Airport (SLC). As of now, no further details have been shared, so it remains to be seen when the lounge will open, how big it will be, etc.
For context on the current lounge situation at the airport, there’s a 28,000 square foot Delta Sky Club in Concourse A at the airport. It’s my understanding that a similarly sized Sky Club is planned for Concourse B, though I now feel like that could at least partly become the new Delta One Lounge, if I had to guess.
Keep in mind that there are also plans for an Amex Centurion Lounge in Concourse B, and it’s expected to open in 2025. There are largely overlapping access requirements, given the close relationship between Amex and Delta, so Delta passengers will have quite a bit of lounge capacity at the airport.
If I’m missing something obvious regarding other potential locations for the lounge, please let me know. But given the advance notice and approval that’s required from local authorities for lounge developments, it’s often hard to keep this secret.
What does this mean for Delta’s SLC strategy?
The first four locations that were announced for Delta One Lounges were in competitive markets, which aren’t fortress hubs for Delta. As you can tell, Delta didn’t start with its most dominant hubs — Atlanta (ATL), Detroit (DTW), Minneapolis (MSP), or Salt Lake City (SLC).
That’s probably for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that airlines don’t feel like they need to invest as much in the passenger experience in their fortress hubs.
Now we’ve seen a lounge announced for Salt Lake City, which isn’t necessarily the first market that you’d assume would get such a lounge. Salt Lake City is currently Delta’s fastest growing core hub. However, it’s overwhelmingly a domestic and regional hub for the airline, with limited long haul service.
Currently Delta’s only long haul flights from Salt Lake City are to other SkyTeam hubs, including Amsterdam (AMS), London (LHR), and Paris (CDG). Furthermore, in 2025, Delta plans to launch a route to Seoul Incheon (ICN), another SkyTeam hub. The Seoul Incheon route also represents Delta’s first long haul route from the airport with an A350, so we may see more of those stationed there.
That being said, what additional long haul growth could we really see out of Salt Lake City, especially with the extent to which Delta is so focused on routing long haul traffic through joint venture hubs?
- Across the Atlantic, I just don’t see Delta expanding all that much to secondary markets, since it’s more efficient for the airline to route people through places like Atlanta and Detroit
- To Asia, it seems like this would have to come at the expense of some service from either Los Angeles or Seattle; maybe we could see a Tokyo flight, but I don’t see much more service than that
- With the LATAM joint venture, perhaps we could see some Delta South America service, though I don’t see that necessarily being hugely successful
- If anything, maybe we’ll see more service from partners, like Air France-KLM, LATAM, Scandinavian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, etc.
So it’s possible that I’m missing something, and that Delta has some other big plan here. Or I think it’s also possible that Salt Lake City is just getting a Delta One Lounge since the timing makes sense. The airline is actively working on opening a huge new lounge at the airport, so it’s easy enough to convert part of that into the Delta One Lounge.
Meanwhile it’s much harder to undertake such an initiative at an airport that’s already at capacity, without construction.
Bottom line
A Delta One Lounge is coming to Salt Lake City Airport, though we don’t have any details beyond that. My guess is that this will be part of the new Delta Sky Club coming to Concourse B, but maybe I’m missing something.
This development is noteworthy, as Salt Lake City is the first Delta fortress hub that’s expected to get a Delta One Lounge. That’s interesting, because it’s also the Delta fortress hub used least for long haul, international service.
What do you make of plans for the Delta One Lounge SLC?
