Having spent the better part of the past decade persuading customers that banking no longer needs physical branches, it was to my great amazement that Revolut recently announced their intent to occupy arguably some of the most difficult to obtain, and expensive, real estate imaginable: space inside airport terminals.

The company plans to open its first branded airport lounge at Copenhagen Airport in 2027, with Ireland reportedly identified as a priority for whatever follows. On the surface, Dublin feels almost inevitable. Revolut has enormous recognition here (’Can I Revolut you’ is an actual question at this stage), Irish consumers travel frequently, and airport perks are both few and far between here domestically, and also one of the easiest ways to explain the value of an expensive subscription plan.

I found the concept fascinating – probably because unlike the US, financial institutions operating their own lounges is just unheard of here in Europe. I also wondered how this would work; how does one just ‘get into’ the lounge business, and more importantly across many of our creaking, under-sized airports across Europe, is it even possible in many cases to find somewhere to put one, and would airlines and airport operators here not take – or attempt to exert – priority?

The issue is not whether Revolut has the money, customers or ambition to build a lounge network. It is that every location depends on an airport having suitable space available, and deciding that a Revolut-branded facility is the best use of it.

Copenhagen Is A Convenient Starting Point

The first Revolut Lounge is due to open at Copenhagen Airport in 2027. As it turns out, and after some reading, it is being developed with the airport and Plaza Premium Group, which will act as the operating partner. Revolut says it will be Copenhagen’s new flagship lounge and the largest common-use lounge in the Schengen area.

That last description is important. This is not, as you might have first imagined, a borderline private members’ club reserved entirely for Revolut customers. A common-use lounge can serve passengers from multiple airlines, access programmes and potentially paying walk-in guests. Presumably then, Revolut is bringing the brand, investment and a very substantial pool of potential customers; Plaza Premium is bringing the experience of actually operating airport hospitality.

Copenhagen also appears to offer circumstances which may not be quite as easy to replicate elsewhere. The lounge forms part of the airport’s wider development rather than an established terminal where the chance of sourcing several thousand square metres feels far less likely.

Airports as Gatekeepers

The biggest difficulty, in my mind, remains two-fold; airports’ existing commercial incentives and strategies, and availability of suitable space.

By the latter, I mean just how unusually awkward airport real estate tends to be. A lounge needs more than an empty unit and a decent view. It needs secure airside access, kitchens or catering support, toilets and possibly showers, servicing routes, fire and planning approval, space for staff and storage, and a location that passengers can actually reach as wide a pool of gates as possible.

For example, a lounge located after US preclearance cannot serve ordinary European departures. A facility behind passport control may be inaccessible to Schengen passengers. Even within one terminal, a long walk or an inconvenient security split can shrink the practical customer base considerably.

And the airport itself may already be a lounge operator – I think heavily of Dublin Airport here. They can earn money from direct bookings, airline contracts, membership schemes and card programmes. If an airport is already collecting that revenue, why would it automatically want to hand some of the market to a powerful outside brand?

This is the fundamental difference between launching another feature in an app and announcing a physical lounge network. Revolut controls the former from end to end. For the latter, even with Plaza Premium presumably doing much of the negotiation, every airport becomes its own negotiation, construction project and commercial partnership.

Dublin Is Obvious – And Awkward In Equal Measure

Dublin would give Revolut an unusually concentrated base of existing customers, a population accustomed to travelling by air and a high-profile showcase in what I imagine must be one of the company’s strongest markets.

The big difficulty is that Dublin Airport does not have an obvious Revolut Lounge-shaped hole waiting to be filled.

Daa already operates the Phoenix Lounge in Terminal 1, the Liffey and Martello lounges between the terminals, and 51st&Green after US preclearance. Aer Lingus has its own lounge in Terminal 2 – which they would probably argue is already in need of expansion. Between them, these facilities cover direct-paying customers, a long list of airline agreements and several very different passenger flows.

More importantly, daa has just invested heavily in that portfolio. The new Phoenix Lounge has just reopened, replacing the old Terminal 1 facility with roughly double the capacity, while 51st&Green has also undergone a substantial refurbishment and expansion.

This is not an airport which appears to have forgotten about lounges, or which necessarily needs an external operator to introduce the concept. It has expanded the capacity, segmented airline customers between facilities and retained control of all of the common-use lounge business itself.

A standalone Revolut facility could attract investment and add welcome capacity. It could also redirect passengers who might otherwise pay for a daa lounge, enter through an airline contract or spend money in the terminal’s restaurants and bars.

That changes the most useful question. It is not simply whether Revolut wants a lounge at Dublin Airport. What would make Dublin Airport want a Revolut lounge?

Plaza Premium Solves Operations Not Real Estate

The involvement of Plaza Premium feels like it helps massively. It has existing airport relationships, understands airline contracts and access schemes, and already knows how to design and operate lounges across very different terminals and passenger markets.

But even Plaza Premium cannot manufacture terminal space where none exists, or where the airport operator has its own motivations.

Kuala Lumpur is a useful example of the wider point. KLIA has plenty of scale, substantial traffic and size, yet the provision and allocation of lounge space still has often reflected the airport operator’s own commercial preferences – a good example being the gradual pull-back of directly airline-operated lounges since the pandemic.

If even major long-haul airlines cannot assume that an airport will provide the lounge footprint they would ideally like, Revolut certainly cannot rely on customer numbers alone to secure one.

A Successful Customer Base Could Become A Capacity Problem

There is a second challenge after finding the space, I’m keen to understand the eventual resolution for: deciding who actually gets through the door.

Revolut already offers some degree of third-party lounge access through its app. They have not yet said which plans will include its own lounges, whether guests will be permitted, whether entry will be guaranteed, or how airline and paid access will work.

Those details will decide what the lounge really is. It could be an exclusive benefit for the highest-paying subscribers, a broad incentive designed to sell more premium plans, or a conventional common-use lounge carrying Revolut branding and serving a mixture of customers.

Trying to be all three creates an obvious tension. Revolut’s huge customer base is attractive when justifying the investment, but much less attractive if a meaningful share of those customers arrive at 6am on the same summer morning before the first wave of morning departures.

Card-linked lounges have already demonstrated how quickly a supposedly premium benefit can become a queue at reception followed by a search for two seats together. If access is frequently refused due to capacity, the lounge stops being a convincing subscription benefit.

Copenhagen: One To Watch

Copenhagen has many of the ingredients required to make this work: an airport willing to participate, a development into which the lounge can be incorporated, an experienced operator and investor, and a fintech with the customers and marketing power to make the opening very exciting.

Finding that combination repeatedly will be much harder, and building a network will require something much harder: that airports with established operators and lounge businesses of their own have a reason to let it in, repeatedly.

Until a second location is secured, this remains one interesting lounge – unfortunately, as an N26 customer I’m very unlikely to get a chance to review it anytime soon, but I’m very keen to see how it turns out.

Keen to hear other views on this one. Would a Revolut Lounge make you more likely to pay for Ultra, and if Ireland really is next, where do you think it would realistically go?