Air New Zealand has announced the first price increase for Koru Club members in four years to help fund ambitious plans for a $20 million upgrade of key Koru lounges in New Zealand and overseas.
New annual individual memberships will cost an additional $120 - or 33 cents per day - effective immediately.
Existing members will benefit from a 12 month period of grace if they renew their annual memberships by July 1. Potentially, those members who have recently taken out one or two year memberships will be able to defer the increase for almost two, possibly three, years by taking advantage of the chance to renew for an additional 12 months at the existing price.
The additional $120 brings Koru Club membership up to $495 for a year.
The $20 million lounge upgrade programme, the most comprehensive undertaken for many years, will include the major refurbishment and expansion of the Los Angeles and Christchurch lounges plus other key projects still in the pipeline. This will reduce congestion in lounges and improve facilities.
Air New Zealand Chief Operating Officer Andrew Miller says: "The Koru Club is a user-pays facility which has been subsidised significantly by Air New Zealand since its inception 16 years ago.
"With the advent of lower fares through Express Class, we cannot sustain this next phase of lounge refurbishment without seeking additional funding from those who benefit from these facilities.
"The value of the Koru Club is clearly demonstrated in fast-growing membership figures - a third of our members have signed up in the past two years. Our customers tell us it's a valuable tool in their working lives.
"We hope they continue to recognise the increased value membership will deliver as we move forward with our plans. Lounge access is the number one reason they join Koru Club, so we're enhancing the most important benefit for members," he says.
Other types of Koru Club membership will also be affected. Corporate memberships will increase by $145 (from $300 to $445). All existing members will have access to the period of grace enabling them to renew for a further year at the existing rate if they pay by July 1.
Importantly, two membership categories will no longer be available to prospective members - partner and life memberships.
Anyone wanting to join Koru Club as a new partner member will now have to choose between individual full membership or buying an annual guest card.
However, all existing life memberships will be honoured and existing partner members can renew and continue their memberships as previously. Partner memberships for existing members will increase by $125 per year (from $200 - $325).
Koru members have access to 20 international lounges around the Air New Zealand network plus 11 domestic lounges.
The most recent investment by Air New Zealand in its popular lounge network was the new-look Auckland's Koru Lounge which re-opened in November.
Andrew Miller says "The new Auckland Koru lounge has been a great success for our Koru Club members".
NOTE: The content of all Air New Zealand media releases are accurate at the time of issue, as stated at the top of each release. For updates on any changes, please contact Air New Zealand.
Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award, Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, bmi, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Aegean Airlines, Air India, Brussels Airlines and TAM have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 19,500 daily flights to 1,071 airports in 171 countries.
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