American Airlines set to open two lounges at PHL in 2025
The airline is opening a Flagship Lounge as well as an Admirals Club.
American Airlines will open two lounges at Philadelphia International Airport next year: a Flagship Lounge as well as an Admirals Club, both in Terminal A-West, the airline announced. The airline has had an Admirals Club in that terminal, which has been temporarily closed to prepare for the new Flagship Lounge, according to the company website.
According to a rendering of the spaces, the lounges would be next to each other.
“The new lounges, in American’s trans-Atlantic gateway, are thoughtfully designed to allow our customers to rejuvenate and feel their best ahead of their flight,” reads a statement the airline shared with The Inquirer on Friday about the openings.
American flew nearly 16 million passengers through PHL last year, according to the airline, and employs over 8,600 in the Philadelphia area.
When the Flagship Lounge at PHL was announced in 2016, The Inquirer reported that it was expected to include expansive spaces, modern furnishings, and food and beverage options. Nationally, American Airlines has four other Flagship Lounges, which are in Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and Dallas Fort Worth, according to the company’s website. These lounges include meals, a cocktail bar, and shower suites, but American did not yet share details about the amenities at the forthcoming PHL lounge.
PHL has other lounges and clubs, including a British Airways Galleries Club Lounge in Terminal A-West, a Delta SkyClub in the Terminal D/E connector, and an American Express Centurion Lounge in Terminal A-West, according to the airport website. American Airlines also has other Admirals Clubs at PHL in Terminals A-East, F, and the B/C connector.
The lounge openings come as American Airlines is expanding its services out of PHL. In May, the airline announced it was expanding a bus program that allows passengers to clear security at other airports in the region and then ride a bus to catch a plane out of PHL. This year, American is also launching new flights to Copenhagen, Denmark; Nice, France; and Naples, Italy, from PHL.
The upgrade to the airport’s lounge offerings also comes as PHL is in the midst of updating the airport’s master plan, which has identified the need for around 20 more gates by 2040. Many of the airport’s terminals were built in the 1950s and don’t meet the needs of today’s passengers, with the exception of Terminal A-West, which opened in 2003, according to Api Appulingam, the aviation department’s chief development officer.
“We’re looking at what do we need to move around to be able to build new terminal facilities,” Appulingam said in April during the aviation department’s budget proposal presentation. “We’re hopeful and optimistic that we will have a plan that is going to start rebuilding our terminals one by one.”