The Aspire Transborder Lounge, located in the United States terminal at the Calgary International Airport has gotten a little bit bigger, and a lot more natural.
Aspire and WestJet opened the new garden lounge concept on April 28, the first in Canada, to better serve an expanding number of air travellers at YYC.
Jorge Da Silva, Head of Airport Lounges and Hospitality for North America at Swissport, said that the idea behind the expansion came about from the high ceilings and ample natural light in the transborder terminal.
“The idea was to create a calm and serene environment, somewhere where you can unwind and relax. As you can see, we have very different areas for people to relax. We have, like, a living room space. We have private booths. We have a workstation space over there, we have communal boots,” Da Silva said.
The garden in an airport concept has been a popular one in Asia, and particularly in Singapore at Jewel inside Changi Airport.
Although the Aspire lounge is far more modest in size than that garden, it did nearly double the number of seats available for passengers by 90 to a total of 216.
“The selling point for us was to create a modern space. I think that’s what people are looking for, and bringing a lot of life. The idea was to put a lot of plants, which we’re seeing here, are all real plants, and trying to change the landscape of what a lounge is, rather than be a cookie cutter concept,” Da Silva said.
Chris Niergarth, General Manager of Commercial and Retail Development at the Calgary International Airport Authority, said as the airport projects significant increases in traveller passengers over the next half-decade, there has been a pressing need to develop more spaces at YYC.
“My team is tasked with adding new amenities, adding new retail, adding new food and beverage, even creating additional dwelling areas for our passengers to spend time in our building,” he said.
“It really comes down to the guest experience. Of course, revenue is very important for us as well, but enhancing that guest experience, they go hand in hand, so as our passenger numbers grow substantially, we have to grow our dwelling areas, our retail and food, and beverage so that we don’t come into capacity constraints.”
One of the unique local connections that travellers will be experiencing at the new lounge is the culinary menus of Charcut.
Connie DeSousa, co-founder of Charcut, said that in 2024 they did a pop-up with Aspire serving traditional Thanksgiving and holiday menus for travellers, and that developed into an ask to have Charcut permanently provide menus for the lounge.
“This is fantastic exposure for our brand, and we’re thrilled to be partnered with Aspire Lounges to be able to bring our food to even more people,” DeSousa said.
She said that being at the airport has given the chefs a little more creative freedom to move beyond the traditional Charcut experience, although there will always be a couple of those items on the menu.
