Cathay closes The Bridge lounge at Hong Kong airport

The HK lounge with a residential vibe appears to have become another casualty of Covid.

By David Flynn, August 24 2021
Cathay closes The Bridge lounge at Hong Kong airport

Cathay Pacific's once-expansive Hong Kong lounge network is shrinking, with The Bridge to permanently close.

The airline today confirmed that the business class lounge, which was shuttered in April 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic took hold, will remain closed.

"Having been temporarily closed due to the reduced flight schedule, The Bridge lounge at Terminal 1 of Hong Kong International Airport will now be closed permanently," Cathay Pacific said.

Twin Cathay Pacific icons at The Bridge: the Boeing 747 and The Long Bar.
Twin Cathay Pacific icons at The Bridge: the Boeing 747 and The Long Bar.

The Bridge was nestled between gates 35-36 of the airport's West Concourse and at the arrivals point of the automated people mover shuttle, just before the terminal split into north and south piers.

Opened in October 2013, it was the last of Cathay's HK lounges to be designed by Foster + Partners, and adopted a far more relaxed vibe – mostly residential, with a little cafe and bistro for good measure – than its counterparts The Wing and the also-since-closed The Cabin.

The Bridge marked Cathay's adoption of a more residential lounge aesthetic.
The Bridge marked Cathay's adoption of a more residential lounge aesthetic.

London's Studio Ilse, headed by design doyen Ilse Crawford, took Cathay's lounge design further into the upmarket residential realm, from 'out-station' lounges at Tokyo/Haneda, Taipei, Manila, Bangkok, Vancouver and London, through to the Oneworld member's home flagship The Pier.

While spread across two wings with a 2,560m2 footprint, The Bridge was largely supplanted by the The Pier, which put more modern and elegant first class and business class lounges only a short stroll away.

That said, many frequent flyers will fondly remember The Bridge's bakery, which offered freshly-baked bread and pizzas.

The warm welcoming aroma of fresh-baked bread often permeated The Bridge.
The warm welcoming aroma of fresh-baked bread often permeated The Bridge.

Earlier this year, American Express was rumoured to be scoping out a new lounge location at Hong Kong airport, although no announcement has been made on what will become of The Bridge now that Cathay has removed its brushwing logo from the doors.

At the time of writing, only Cathay's The Wing lounge remains open, with The Pier and The Deck still closed until demand resumes.

Also read: Cathay Pacific’s new Boeing 777-9 first, business class in development

David

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.

05 Mar 2015

Total posts 416

A bit sad, I used to enjoy The Bridge back before The Pier opened. But I can see it's got less appeal now. I wonder if AMEX might move to The Bridge and have one of it's 'wings' as a new Centurion lounge and the other as a more general entry AMEX lounge like the ones in Sydney and Melbourne?

Used to spend a lot of time at The Bridge back in the day, as more often than not that end of the airport was where my CX flights to Australia and sometimes Europe departed from. I know some people lounge-hop, they might start at The Wing because it's just past security and then they would move down to The Bridge closer to their flight, but I would just head straight to The Bridge, it had pretty much everything you could want from a business class lounge.

Joe
Joe

03 May 2013

Total posts 670

I wonder how stable CX is. It seems more and more they are suffering significantly. Beyond Covid-19 pressures, could the mainland be trying to bring them to their knees in favour of its own carriers I wonder?

20 Oct 2015

Total posts 241

Cathay used to have a lot of lounges at HKG, when you think back on it, although The Cabin closing sort of made sense, it was an odd location. I'm not surprised to see The Bridge go, as others have said, The Pier lounges are better in every way. But The Bridge's location itself is brilliant, right there when you step off the train from the top end of the terminal, so I hope that AMEX or Plaza Premium picks it up.

Cathay Pacific - The Marco Polo Club

20 Jun 2013

Total posts 55

Personally, I found the Bridge rather cramped at times, and with all that glass occasionally rather too warm. 

True, parts of The Bridge could get very warm in summer, if you ever visited The Cabin that was ever worse. Glass all the way along the side of the lounge which fronted the airport, so it got the sun most of the day, and because The Cabin was long rather than deep, it didn't take much for any heat from those windows to penetrate into the lounge. A lot of people called it The Sauna instead of The Cabin! Was a nice lounge when it was new and not too crowded and not in summer, but I preferred The Wing or The Bridge depending on my flight's departure gate.

Cathay Pacific - The Marco Polo Club

20 Jun 2013

Total posts 55

Gosh yes I recall the Cabin "Sauna" well ! 


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