DALLAS — Delta Air Lines (DL) has recently confirmed the arrival of the new Sky Club lounge at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), set to be ready in 2024. The new lounge is part of a renovation of the airport's Concourse A, costing it US$231 million.

After speculation for the past few months, the airline finally confirmed the plans in a statement to The Charlotte Ledger, stating that "Delta Sky Club is looking forward to opening its first-ever location in Charlotte next year. We look forward to sharing more details in the coming months."

This comes after people reportedly spotted a lounge bearing the DL logo on renderings of what the terminal renovations could look like, first seen in May of this year. To be able to enter the lounge, passengers must be members of DL's Sky Club program, which has a membership cost of US$695 per year.

However, the lounge is not the first to come to the airport, with DL's competition with American Airlines (AA) seen through the two other AA lounges already existing at Charlotte-Douglas. CLT contains seven routes operated by DL to major cities across the US, falling far short of AA's 170 routes.

Still Competition from American

According to Cirium Diio data, DL had 2,698 flights (259,132 seats) to and from CLT in the fourth quarter of 2023, while AA had a whopping 54,903 flights (7,143,009 seats) to and from CLT for the same period.

The expansion of Concourse A will let DL change this, allowing for a possible ten extra gates to be available to the airline. This lounge should help to expand Sky Club's complex network, which already has more than 50 locations, to attract more customers from rival airlines.

The new DL lounge should help reduce overcrowding at CLT's eight others, which include two American Admiral lounges and an American Express Centurion lounge, the latter of which only spans 13,000 square feet. This is in contrast to AA's rumored plans to expand one of their existing lounges to be twice the size, allowing for a sufficient increase in capacity.

For now, details on the lounge are scarce, as there has been no official press release from the airport or airline. However, this will likely change soon, as anticipation for the lounge has been building up over recent months.

With CLT being a major domestic hub for the US, this lounge could make major pathways in allowing connecting passengers on DL and its partners the chance for more comfort than currently permitted.

Featured Image: Adrian Nowakowski/Airways