Turkish Airlines & Air France woo passengers with new UK airport lounges
December 14, 2025
This week, two airlines unveiled new lounges at UK airports. Turkish Airlines (TK) opened its own lounge in Edinburgh, while Air France announced that it would be revealing its new space at London Heathrow’s Terminal 4 this coming spring.
Both airlines are hoping to cater to premium demand from the United Kingdom, yet the strategies differ. Turkish Airlines’ Edinburgh lounge is its first in Europe outside of Turkey, and is especially interesting given the relatively lower level of capacity that it flies to the Scottish airport.
Instead, the move is seemingly a play to draw passengers away from competitors.
As for Air France, one analyst tells Aerospace Global News that the move is more a capacity/cost move by the company and future-proofs the Air France-KLM group’s premium position at Heathrow as the acquisition of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) continues.
Turkish Airlines’ not-so-new Edinburgh lounge
The Plaza Premium lounge at Edinburgh Airport is being rebranded. The Turkish Airlines logo now completes the overall facade and was revealed to the public at an event earlier this week.
As noted by Head for Points, Plaza Premium will continue to operate the lounge despite the rebranding. This is not solely a decision to cater for its premium customers – of which there are plenty from Edinburgh, but not at all close to the levels from some of its other European gateways.
Instead, it points to a clever marketing strategy.
Information from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows that Turkish flies to the Scottish city up to twice daily, a far cry from Paris Charles de Gaulle and London Heathrow’s seven daily or Berlin, Munich and Vienna’s five daily to name a few. By number of seats to destinations in the EU and UK this month, Edinburgh ranks 50th.
The lounge will be open to fellow Star Alliance passengers with status. Because it is not strictly a TK-operated lounge, passengers on other airlines will also continue to use it.
This includes Virgin Atlantic (SkyTeam), United Airlines (Star), Atlantic Airways, Delta Air Lines (SkyTeam), Finnair (oneworld), Icelandair and Qatar Airways (oneworld).
Air France brings chic design to London
Air France’s considerable operation out of London Heathrow explains the need for its own lounge. In a measure that will better cater to both its premium customers, the long-term investment comes as the Air France-KLM group prepare to integrate Scandinavian Airlines (SAS).
Speaking with Aerospace Global News, John Walton, Editor-in-Chief of passenger experience specialist site The Up Front said: “With the number of flights Air France-KLM have, and the likely shift of new acquisition SAS to join them in T4 if capacity allows, it makes a lot of sense to have their own space (previously, if my lounge geography is right, the Malaysia Airlines lounge) and to avoid the cost of using a third-party facility.”
Air France-KLM Group’s London Heathrow operations (December 2025)
| Airline | Route | Frequency |
| Air France | London Heathrow – Paris CDG | 49 |
| KLM | London Heathrow – Amsterdam | 53 |
| SAS | London Heathrow – Stockholm | 31 |
| SAS | London Heathrow – Copenhagen | 32 |
| SAS | London Heathrow – Oslo | 33 |
| Total weekly frequency | 198 | |
Source: Cirium
Note: SAS customers are not yet able to use Air France-KLM lounge facilities at London Heathrow, as SAS has not yet been fully integrated into the Air France-KLM Group.
Walton notes that the SkyTeam lounge in Terminal 4 closed back during the COVID shutdown and was replaced with a half Plaza Premium and half Saudia lounge “curiously, without access for Saudia’s SkyTeam partners.”
He continued: “As I mentioned in our The Up Front Update roundup this week, it seems most likely that this is an advertising-branding play by Turkish in Edinburgh, but a capacity/cost play by Air France at Heathrow.”
Featured image: Savvapanf / stock.adobe.com
