Air Canada Opens Chic Lounge with Outdoor Terrace in San Francisco

Air Canada has recently opened its third lounge in the United States at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), equipped with an outdoor terrace. This new retreat is exclusively available for Premium Air Canada and Star Alliance passengers.

The Canadian flag carrier’s newest Maple Leaf Lounge seats 165 guests across 8,168 square feet in SFO’s Terminal 2. The lounge is equipped with e-gates and biometric identification for hands-free, frictionless entry.

When inside, travelers can choose from a self-serve buffet with hot and cold meals inspired by local flavors.

It was a lot of fun seeing @AirCanada’s newest Maple Leaf Lounge at @flySFO, which opened this week. The property is beautiful & an experimenting ground for Air Canada to tinker with new ideas, concepts & offerings. Plus, it has the ONLY airline lounge outdoor terrace at SFO. pic.twitter.com/KgkIy5Dl4K

— Tim Jue (@timjue) June 30, 2023

The menu includes sliders and the iconic fish stew cioppino from San Francisco. Additionally, an L-shaped bar serves various drinks such as Canadian and Californian wines, local craft beers from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Anchor Brewing, bartender-prepared cocktails, and espresso.

Travelers can also freshen up in two shower rooms, with heated towel racks and Molton Brown toiletries. Those who need to catch up on work can use one of the three glass-doored private workstations with spacious table tops. VIPs who need even more privacy can access a 10-seat private room.

The lounge has been designed by San Francisco architect Gensler, incorporating timber, marble, and glass in a tasteful manner. The floor-to-ceiling windows allow plenty of natural light, and the space features artwork such as a mural by local artist Amos Goldbaum and paintings by Toronto-based Shawn Evans.

But the main attraction is the outdoor terrace, the first in Air Canada’s portfolio of lounges. It offers low, comfortable lounges, seating up to 30; two vapor fireplaces; and runway views. An eye-catching mural depicts the Air Canada logo and the Golden Gate Bridge.

“We’ve done some unique things with the furniture, with the layout and also with the artwork and the sense of ‘place’ so it will feel uniquely San Francisco,” said Mark Nasr, Air Canada’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Digital.

Photo: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, Vancouver. Courtesy of Air Canada.

The Maple Leaf Lounge is available for Air Canada Business Class passengers and premium members (Super Elite, 75K, and 50K) of the Aeroplan loyalty program. In addition, Business Class travelers on Star Alliance partner airlines, such as United Airlines, and frequent flyers with Star Alliance Gold status can also access the lounge.

The San Francisco hangout is one of three lounges Air Canada is opening this year. New lounges are also set to debut in Toronto (YYZ), Montreal (YUL), and Vancouver (YRV), part of an aesthetic overhaul that will also see the airline introduce new plane interiors.

Nasr says the airline wants to ensure its lounges remain “special” even as they’re used more intensively than ever. “More of our eligible customers – Business Class passengers, our elite travelers, and premium credit card holders – are using lounges than ever before, and they’re spending longer in the lounges than they were previously,” he told Executive Travellers.

“That tells us we need to keep the lounges special, and that they need to be bigger, they need to have more facilities.”

Air Canada also operates Maple Leaf lounges at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).