BA: Consolidating presence in Nigeria with improved lounge

When it comes to premium travel, British Airways prides itself as one of the leaders. Its newly refurbished First and business class lounge opens a new vista to giving high network passengers a new customer experience, writes, WOLE SHADARE

Continuous improvement

One of the world’s biggest carriers, British Airways may have cemented its position as a leader in the Nigerian aviation market just as the carrier is investing millions of pounds to improve its premium customers’ satisfaction by totally refurbishing its luxurious lounge at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. It took six months for the project to be completed.

The space has been cleverly designed to give customers more room to enjoy an upgraded food and beverage experience. It allows customers to relax, dine or work in a premium space, while also proudly exhibiting local art from Akoje Gallery.

Cutting edge competition

Airport lounges are becoming an integral part of the airline’s customer satisfaction, enabling an airport to differentiate from other airports and get a cutting-edge competitive advantage over the latter.

Since airline customers pay a hefty amount for the premium seat/class, providing an experiential offering (airport lounge) is critical in developing and maintaining customer relationships.

An airport lounge service offers a place to relax before and after a flight journey, benefiting customers. Apart from airport lounges, airline-specific lounges are also operated by the airlines for their customers only.

There could be extended, innovative attributes that could lead to customer satisfaction on airport lounges. For example, airport lounge facilities include fresh food, Wi-Fi, clean toilets, comfortable seating, shower suits, business centres, premium beverages, and personal assistance which can facilitate to increase in guest volume to the airport lounge.

Airports often face huge losses due to high infrastructure and running costs. In such a situation, the airport’s exciting facilities in airport lounges may satisfy the visitors to pass through the airports and fascinate them to recommend these airports to their peers, which may lead to higher revenue generation. However, all the benefits or attributes come with a cost.

Therefore, the relative importance of each attribute needs to be examined to use those accordingly and optimize customer satisfaction and subsequently lead to their recommendation behaviour.

To date, no study has examined the relative importance of the lounge attributes that can augment an airline customer’s satisfaction and recommendation behaviour. Our study addresses the above-mentioned research gap.

Experience a new world of travel

For the BA newly refurbished lounge at the Lagos airport adjudged to be the best in the country, customers will be transported into a new contemporary lounge as soon as they pass through the grand entrance with floor-to-ceiling glass.

Following significant investment, the airline has created zones throughout the 360 square metres of space to cater for different customers’ needs.

For those who want to dine ahead of the evening flight to London, there is a self-serve dining area with a wide selection of freshly made dishes.

The food and drink menu offers a range of Nigerian classics and British-inspired dishes which will change regularly. Customers can also pull up a chair at a newly built bar where a bartender will serve drinks including cocktails, wine, and soft drinks. Champagne and canapes will also be offered to customers travelling in First Class.

To commemorate British Airways’ strong association with Nigeria, art from local artists is displayed across the lounge following the carrier’s partnership with Akoje Gallery – founded by Maro Itoje and Khalil Akar – to curate an innovative new in-lounge exhibition featuring and celebrating guest artists.

The first showcase of works is themed ‘New Beginnings’ to celebrate the lounge opening. The selected artists centre their works around the chosen theme. The first artists are that of Olawunmi Banjo:

Two paintings titled The Wait I and II Qozeem Abdul Rahman: A Large painting titled The Guardian, Steve Ekpenisi: A large metal sculpture titled Ulaga

The newly imagined lounge space features a quiet room with day beds, while the main area features relaxing comfy sofas and clusters of tables and chairs. Customers needing to work can take advantage of new printing facilities.

Experts’ views

Khalil Akar of the Akoje Gallery said, “We are honoured to partner with British Airways to give local Nigerian artists the chance to showcase their talents in the brand-new Lagos Lounge. We hope British Airways passengers enjoy the immersion in Nigerian culture and the artists’ contribution to their local art community.”

The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku said coming to witness the opening of the refurbished premium lounge and experience the new facility with British Airways in partnership with SDS lounge group which will operate the lounge on behalf of BA demonstrated the development that British Airways is bringing to Nigeria more importantly in line with FAAN’s guidelines for customer experience being a priority.

According to her, “ I walked around the lounge and I asked very simple questions of which I got very remarkable answers. A lot of the work that was done in the lounge today was done in collaboration with Nigerian entrepreneurs. You heard about the collaboration with the gallery, a lot of the woodwork, the furniture are all using Nigerian entrepreneurs so they make me proud.

“I also looked at the cuisine that they are serving as well as the experience. There are very few things that are important to us, each area has a charging section, there are rest areas, and wheelchair accessibility, as well as making sure that passengers with disabilities are catered for. I do notice that they also have a rest area as well as showers. I will say that this experience is comparable to all global locations where British Airways has a first-class lounge. I’m extremely proud of them and I’m hoping that we see more collaboration and better expansion as we go along.”

BA Head of Sales for Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, Juan Pedro said he was delighted to be present to open this new lounge, noting that Lagos is an incredibly important city for the airline by elevating the customer service even more.

“This lounge is a brand new open space with seating for 110 customers, we have a new food offering, we have a hot buffet, a quiet room that allows our customers who want to just relax or take a nap before their flight to do so. We have shower facilities and we have something bespoke, our customers will be able to enjoy champagne and a selection of champagne selection.”

British Airways is upgrading a big part of that is focusing on customer experience. Lagos is an incredible city for us so we must look at the facilities that we have over here and see how we can make it better.

In particular with lounges it’s something that we are looking at very seriously, we just refreshed all our lounges in Heathrow and we opened an incredible new lounge. Next year we will launch some new lounges in both Miami and Dubai. It’s part of the transformation program that we are trying to achieve by elevating customer experience.

“We are looking at everything that we can offer our customers here in Nigeria. I’m glad that we can offer two flights every day into Nigeria. One from Lagos and Abuja. Customer service is very good and to get benefits from London and the United States. Like I said we are currently reviewing our facilities and seeing how we can make them even better.”

Olawunmi Banjo, a visual artist who represented Akoje Gallery disclosed that they are dedicated to raising awareness about art by providing a global platform for artists to share their unique perspectives to a wider audience, explaining that her work at the BA lounge titled, ‘The Wait” talks about how many of us have been through or are currently experiencing period of waiting in our lives and we could either be anxious about the wait or we could choose to reflect on how far we have come and the possibilities of new beginning”.

Banjo who has been painting for more than 18 years was mainly working with hyperreality but now does wire figure which represents the complex energy that flows within them and how they can influence things around them if they are aware of this energy within them.

Last line

Customers want real value for their money and are coming to expect curated spaces that are aligned with and inspired by the local area. Operators must select food and beverages from regional, artisan suppliers where possible, and should use the surrounding landscapes to inspire décor, also including pieces from local artists.

News Details

BA: Consolidating presence in Nigeria with improved lounge

Popular Post