Singapore Airlines announced earlier this week that it will finally be refreshing all of its lounges at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3.

The suite of lounges – including the Private Room, the SilverKris lounge, and the Krisflyer Gold lounge – will progressively undergo refurbishment from August 2019 and will be completed by mid-2021.

The new lounges, to be designed by international hospitality design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates, is touted by SIA to “inject a fresh look and feel to each lounge that is modern yet homely, while inspiring a sense of timeless elegance”.

SilverKris Business Class Lounge

The Changi Airport Terminal 3 SilverKris Lounge will be the first to be renovated, commencing August 2019. The lounge will be expanded finally, making way for more customers and easing off the late evening crowds.

The new Business Lounge will be styled into four zones:

• A relaxed cafe zone for short transits
• A dining hall featuring a full selection of Asian and international cuisine
• A full service bar (which is previously only available in the first class section), which also doubles up as a breakfast bar in the mornings
• A productivity and rest area, decked with productivity pods for your business needs and chaise chairs for a quick nap before your flight

Krisflyer Gold Lounge

For all the Star Alliance Gold members out there who are constantly frustrated with how lacklustre this lounge is, the upgrade will boost the current footprint of the lounge to twice the current size.

Most importantly, SIA is finally putting in restrooms and showers into the Krisflyer Gold Lounge. That’s a piece of development that’s deeply welcomed, and also a long overdue addition.

SilverKris First Class Lounge & The Private Room

The first class lounge will be refreshed, offering “carefully designed luxurious and intimate seating spaces suitable for both work and rest”.

SIA didn’t add many other details, except that it will still have its own flagship bar. My view is that if it’s now available in both the first and business class, it really isn’t much of a flagship anymore, isn’t it?

I’m not sure about you, but I’m really not sure how ‘careful’ a luxury design might look like. Intricately-designed embroidered armchairs? Hand-painted crockeries? High-tech booth seating that reads your mind on what you’ll like to eat and have them served in five minutes? I’m curious.

Interim arrangements

To facilitate lounge access during the upgrading works, it seems like SIA will be making use of the existing Krisflyer Gold Lounge for its SilverKris lounge users. The current Krisflyer Gold Lounge will be closed from 31 July 2019 all through to 2021, when the upgrading works are completed.

Eligible customers of Krisflyer Gold Lounge will be directed to a ‘temporary Krisflyer Gold Lounge’ on the other side of the terminal.

Final thoughts

If SIA’s latest SilverKris lounge refreshes in Bangkok and Hong Kong are anything to go by, I’m pretty much excited by how the new lounge will present itself.

The airline must be feeling the heat: Qantas has announced its own dedicated first class lounge in Changi Airport late last year, and is on track to open it later this year, in a clear fight to win premium customers on lucrative Australia-Europe services.

SIA has an impeccable record for treating its topmost tier customers right: the Private Room is one such testimony and I expect this to continue to be the headliner. But as you go down one cabin, the long-time business class travellers will tell you that the treatment is no longer special. Today, when you head into any SIA SilverKris lounge, a common refrain you will hear is that the lounge is well worn, and the softer offerings are also pretty much mediocre as compared to what other airlines offer.