Passengers flying through Los Angeles International Airport on select airlines are set to experience an entirely upgraded experience. This week, Delta Air Lines opened the largest Sky Club in its network, featuring expansive seating and a panoramic terrace.
The new Sky Club lounge is located between Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 and is accompanied by updated check-in kiosks and fresh art installations from local artists. The project was completed 18 months ahead of schedule and is part of a $2.3 billion project to upgrade dedicated-Delta facilities at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
The terminal redevelopment comes in advance of the massive surge in the number of flights booked out of the SkyTeam carrier's West Coast hub. Delta Air Lines CEO, Ed Bastian, has estimated this month will see the airline's highest ticket sales ever, with the carrier planning on flying 140 daily flights to 53 destinations worldwide from LAX this summer.
The new Sky Club at LAX SkyWay is over 30,000 square feet, making it of the largest lounges in the network. The Sky Club in Terminal 2 will remain open, enabling around 800 guests between the two facilities at any given time. Claude Roussel, Managing Director of Delta Sky Club, highlighted the new facility's design.
The redevelopment includes a new collection of sculptures and works curated by the lounge's art program to include digital creations and large-scale mixed media works featuring local L.A. artists.
The new Delta Sky Club lounge features flexible and adaptive spaces to suit various customer preferences. This includes expansive overviews of the airport and surrounding Beverly Hills area.
The club also contains working spaces, such as private phone booths, throne-style chairs, and booths, alongside family areas, including a nursing room, showers, and oversized family bathrooms with a virtual queuing system.
The feature highlight of the new Sky Club is the roof terrace. The spacious area features a retractable roof to ensure it can be used throughout the year and offers views of downtown Los Angeles, Bel Air, and the Hollywood Hills.
The wraparound bar extends into the terrace. The roof bar offers views of the Hollywood sign and an array of fresh food offerings.
There is a wide variety of food throughout the lounge, including a seasonally inspired selection of fresh items curated by the lounge's Local Flavor program that aims to bring the best of emerging local chefs and regional cuisines to Delta customers from around the world. The collaboration highlights handcrafted, regionally made food and beverage products every week to offer a new selection of options to frequent fliers.
The first featured Local Flavor chef at the new LAX Delta Sky Club is Akira Back, a Michelin Star chef known for his creative interpretations of Asian cuisine with an American influence.
The Sky Club is part of a considerably more significant expansion across the Delta Air Lines network. The project is due to be completed in 2023 as part of an ambitious project by Delta to consolidate Terminals 2 and 3 into a single complex featuring 27 gates that are located past security that will connect to the Tom Bradley International Terminal (Terminal B) for ease of connections on domestic and international flights.
Delta is also transforming its facilities at New York's LaGuardia Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, part of its overall $12 billion effort to re-imagine the customer experience.
This article originally appeared in Simple Flying