Cathay Pacific reopening Singapore Changi T4 lounge in February 2023

There’s more good news for airline lounge reopenings in Singapore, with the shutters set to be raised at the Cathay Pacific lounge in Terminal 4 next month, returning the final Oneworld facility at Changi Airport back to the fold for the first time since March 2020.

The airline left its T4 home at Changi back in April 2020, a month before all carriers moved out to other terminals temporarily due to the almost total decimation of air travel during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It moved back, however, in September 2022, though its dedicated lounge facility has remained closed until now.

Cathay Pacific T4 lounge reopening

A spokesperson for the airline confirmed to Mainly Miles that “we are targeting to reopen the Cathay Pacific Lounge in Singapore at the end of February”.

February also coincides with a ramp up to four times daily for Cathay Pacific departures from Singapore to Hong Kong, using 280-seat Airbus A350-900 aircraft at 1.25am, 10am, 2.05pm and 6pm each day.

Cathay Pacific also confirmed to us that the opening hours of the lounge will be:

• 7am until the last flight of the day (currently 1.25am)

This will allow access as soon as the check-in desks open three hours in advance of the 10am departure CX658 to Hong Kong, right through to the 1.25am departure of CX714.

Prior to COVID-19, Cathay Pacific operated 68 flights per week from Singapore to Hong Kong including one daily service via Bangkok with “fifth freedom” traffic rights on the SIN-BKK-SIN legs (see our review here), however this particular routing hasn’t made a comeback yet.

We should see more flight options like this one added in due course by Cathay, which is planning to ramp up to 75% of pre-COVID schedules by the end of 2023, now that Hong Kong has eased quarantine and testing restrictions.

Lounge access

The following passengers are eligible to access the Cathay Pacific Singapore lounge.

Flying on a Cathay Pacific flight, or on a Oneworld member operated flight:

• in First Class or Business Class; or
• in Premium Economy or Economy Class and holding Cathay Diamond Invitation, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Gold or Silver status, or Cathay Pacific Cargo Clan Elite status, or
• in Premium Economy or Economy Class and holding Oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status; or
• in any class of travel provided they are connecting between oneworld marketed and operated flights on the same day of travel, or before 6am the following day, having arrived in First Class or Business Class with a scheduled flight time longer than 5 hours (e.g. Qantas Business Class SYD-SIN followed by Cathay Pacific Economy Class SIN-HKG, access is permitted). You are required to retain your boarding card from the arriving long-haul flight for lounge access in this case.

Cathay Diamond members can bring two guests into the lounge with them, while Cathay Gold, Cargo Clan Elite, Oneworld Emerald and Oneworld Sapphire members can bring along one guest.

In all cases, the guest must be travelling on a Cathay Pacific or Oneworld carrier operated flight.

This lounge is also available to passengers travelling on any flight from Changi Airport:

• who are Cathay members (any status tier) and wish to redeem 11,000 Asia Miles in exchange for lounge access. This can be done instantly at the lounge reception.

Those departing on a oneworld carrier from T1 or T3 can make the journey to T4 on the bus linking the transit (post-immigration) areas and use the Cathay Pacific lounge if they wish, but the journey is long and would involve around 45 minutes of travel time round-trip, so probably isn’t of much interest.

For further details of the transit times, process and bus frequencies between T4 and T1/2/3, see the airport’s guide here.

About the lounge

The Cathay Pacific lounge first opened along with Changi Airport Terminal 4 itself, on 31st October 2017, with Cathay becoming the first airline to move across to the new facility from its former Terminal 1 home.

It was modelled on the carrier’s latest “The Pier” lounges in Hong Kong, picking up the “living room” design concept by Studioilse, the London-based studio led by Ilse Crawford.

The lounge seats 200 guests and includes a large signature noodle bar as its centrepiece.

Apart from Hong Kong noodles, the bar also serves up Singapore Laksa, offering departing passengers a final taste of Lion City cuisine.

Unfortunately there are no shower facilities available.

Here’s our comprehensive review of the lounge from late 2017, shortly after it opened.

It’s a wrap for oneworld lounges at Changi

Once this lounge reopens by the end of next month, Singapore Changi Airport will have its full suite of oneworld alliance lounges in operation.

• British Airways Singapore Lounge: 4pm – 10pm daily
• Cathay Pacific Singapore Lounge: 7pm – 1am daily
• Qantas Singapore Business Lounge: 3pm – midnight daily
• Qantas Singapore First Lounge: 3pm – midnight daily
• Qatar Singapore Premium Lounge: 6pm – 3am daily

With Singapore Airlines also recently reopening its final (seventh) lounge at Changi, we believe this leaves the Thai Airways lounge in Terminal 1 as the only airline-operated facility still to be brought back.

Other Cathay lounges are reopening

In late 2022, Cathay Pacific also reopened its outstation lounges at London Heathrow, Shanghai Pu Dong, and Tokyo Haneda.

Furthermore, just this week at Hong Kong International Airport The Wing First Class lounge (near gates 1-4), and The Pier Business Class lounge (near gate 65) have now fully reopened to all eligible departing and transit passengers, following the removal of departure zone segregation.

Unfortunately Cathay Pacific did permanently shutter “The Bridge” lounge in Hong Kong during COVID-19, with Qantas also closing its own facility at the airport, so there will be fewer options for oneworld passengers to choose from even after the airline opens its remaining home-based lounges.

Cathay Pacific is reopening its lounge at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 4 next month, with all-day 7am to 1am operation for eligible passengers on its own flights, Asia Miles members redeeming miles for access, and those departing on oneworld carriers from other terminals.

This completes the oneworld lounge offering to a pre-COVID suite of options in both T1 and T4 at Changi, and also comes as lounge access eligibility at Cathay’s home base in Hong Kong returns to normal, following a removal of departure and transit passenger segregation.

(Cover Photo: Cathay Pacific)