First Star Alliance Lounge opened at Zurich airport

First Star Alliance Lounge opened at Zurich airport Star Alliance first lounge was today officially inaugurated at Zurich International Airport. The 637-square meter facility, in an exclusive Star Alliance design, is a prototype for future Star Alliance lounges that the global airline partnership plans to open at a number of airports within its extensive route network. Projects currently being evaluated include Brussels, Buenos Aires, Terminal 4 at Los Angeles International Airport and Manila. The Star Alliance lounge in Zurich has been designed by Toronto architects Kuwabara, Payne, McKenna, Blumberg - KPMB, who entered the winning concept in an international competition. Their design concept not only encompasses this lounge but all airport related Star Alliance facilities such as dedicated Star Alliance check-in and sales counters, transfer facilities and baggage service facilities which will also be implemented at other airports. The lounge, which welcomes Star Alliance First and Business Class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members is situated in Terminal B of Zurich International Airport. It has a seating capacity of 30 in the First Class section and 130 in the Business Class area. It provides comfortable space and pleasant and relaxing atmosphere for premium customer holding a ticket on any of the six alliance airlines which operate from the Swiss airport: Air Canada, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International. Together, the Star Alliance carriers offer 36 departures out of Zurich. The Star Alliance lounges will benefit those markets where the alliance is not represented by a home carrier. In some of these markets individual Star Alliance carriers do not generate enough traffic to warrant their own lounge facilities, and a common Star Alliance lounge is the obvious solution to ensure that customers receive a consistent high-quality product. For further information please contact: Göran Aldvik, Manager SAS lounges: Phone: +46 8 797 2820, mobile +46 70 997 2820 Note to editors: Photographs of the Star Alliance lounge in Zurich are available for downloading in the Press Room section of www.staralliance.com SAS CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/08/01/20030801BIT00360/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/08/01/20030801BIT00360/wkr0002.pdf