Revolut takes flight with launch of new airport lounges
Revolut is planning to build up its physical presence in Europe with the launch of its own airport lounges.
The digital banking giant has said from next year it will begin rolling out premium lounges across its priority markets.
The London-based group has picked Copenhagen Airport for the 2027 debut, which Hadi Nasrallah, director of Revolut’s New Bets division, described as the “perfect fit” in a “key growth market”.
The development beyond the bank’s digital roots will come in partnership with Plaza Premium Group, which operates the world’s largest network of airport lounges.
It follows Revolut revealing plans for its first physical store in Barcelona earlier this year.
The site will not host a branch, but instead a “high-visibility, immersive space”. The firm said it decided to open a physical space because it is what “any other lifestyle brand would do”.
Revolut extends lifestyle reach
Revolut said the new investment into the travel market was evidence of its ambition to expand beyond financial products.
Over the last year, the group has sought to further penetrate the lifestyle segment with the launch of mobile plans and consumer perks across its subscription plans. In travel, it launched its booking platform ‘Stays’ 2021.
The diversification helped bolster the fintech’s bottom line, with the group recording £4.2bn in revenue in the last year, up 46 per cent from the year prior.
Subscriptions served as a major source of this with the area having the highest year-on-year revenue increase at 67 per cent to £708m.
Earlier this week, it was confirmed the fintech had struck a new deal with Wework, restricting access to a range of locations across Europe in its subscription tiers.
It has also recently replaced its Perplexity Pro plan benefit with a new partnership with ChatGPT for paid subscribers.
Revolut, which was founded in 2015, is currently in the process of a secondary share sale expected to value it at $115bn, a significant jump from $75bn just last Novembe