Flying through Dulles? A fancy passenger lounge — for a fee — is in your future

Sign points to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., Tuesday, March 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)(AP/Cliff Owen)

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has approved a contract with airport lounge operator TAV America for a large, high-end passenger lounge at Dulles Airport just past security.

The passenger lounge will include seating areas, Wi-Fi and business services, a conference room and meeting space, liquors, wines and dining options, quiet rooms, a workout room, a shower room, spa services and a children’s play area.

It will occupy part of 9,100 square feet that the airport authority has identified as underutilized space.

The location of the new TAV airport lounge at Dulles will be just beyond security.

The lounge will be open to the public for a fee. While the entrance and/or membership fees weren’t specified in the contract with TAV America, it does call for competitive fees at market rates.

TAV recently opened two passenger lounges at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport under the name Primeclass Lounge, as part of the Priority Pass airport lounge membership. Depending on your membership level, entrance is anywhere from free to $32 per visit.

At JFK, the Primeclass lounges limit your stay to a maximum of four hours, but includes two complimentary drinks, and children under 7 are admitted free.

The Dulles passenger lounge will be a Capital One-branded facility.

TAV has not made public any further details about the Dulles lounge’s affiliation or admission prices, nor has TAV or the Airports Authority said when construction will begin or when the lounge will open.

As part of the agreement, TAV will pay the airports authority $22.9 million over the course of the 10-year contract, as well as 33% of gross revenues from the lounge’s operation. TAV must also invest a minimum of $7.5 million on design and construction of the lounge.

The Points Guy recently reviewed one of the two new Primeclass lounges, operated by TAV, at JFK.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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