W Premium Group inaugurated this week a VIP lounge at the Comandante Armando Tola International Airport in El Calafate, located in the province of Santa Cruz, near the famous Perito Moreno glacier.
The El Calafate lounge is the second VIP lounge the company has opened in Argentina, following the one in Ushuaia in September. A third lounge is set to open soon at the Trelew airport, also in Patagonia.
This marks the beginning of W Premium Group’s international expansion process, as it already operates 17 VIP lounges in major Brazilian airports, such as São Paulo/Guarulhos, Fortaleza, Recife, and Belém. During the inauguration ceremony, Italo Russo Silva, CEO and founder of W Premium Group, stated that they chose Argentina «due to the importance of this destination for Brazilian travelers» and expressed confidence that they will «add significant value to the journey of Brazilians to this iconic destination.»
The new lounge at El Calafate airport, with a capacity for 40 guests, is located in the pre-boarding area (upper floor) between gates 3 and 4. It can be accessed with Dragon Pass, Visa Airport Companion, Priority Pass, LoungeKey, Mile On Air, or W Pass.
During the peak summer season, the flight schedule to El Calafate includes an average of 140 weekly operations (arrivals and departures), connecting it to Buenos Aires (Aeroparque and Ezeiza), Bariloche, Córdoba, Trelew, Ushuaia, Perito Moreno, Comodoro Rivadavia, Río Gallegos, Río Grande, and Santiago de Chile. This represents a monthly offering of over 100,000 seats provided by Aerolíneas Argentinas, Flybondi, JetSMART, LADE, and SKY Airline.
Between January and October 2024, El Calafate airport handled 686,000 passengers, a figure 2% higher than the same period last year. This positions it as the tenth busiest airport in Argentina.
