A saffron-red tail fin with a solar logo seemed to jet out from directly beneath the exclusive second-floor lounge among the A Gates at San Francisco International Airport. Air India flight 4174 to Kolkata idled in plain view from the slim windows inside the airline’s Maharaja Lounge, which debuted in May. The aircraft’s presence offered passengers in the lounge the simple pleasure of knowing their flight was still there, without having to join the commoners in the busy terminal below.
Access to the new lounge is deliberately limited. Only first- and business class passengers on Air India flights or premium travelers on flights from partnering Star Alliance airlines make it past the dual hosts on guard at the gilded gates.
A couple of hours before the flight to Kolkata, fewer than 20 people lolled about the intimate and suave space. One of them was an internet celebrity. Clad in a black hat and dark windbreaker, Indian influencer RJ Abhinav relaxed by the window. At least twice, the former radio jockey from Delhi congenially paused for selfies with fans.
At 3,300 square feet, the Maharaja Lounge is among the smaller lounges at SF, but its designers maximized the limited space with tasteful art pieces while going big with the on-demand delicacies. A tray of vada pav sliders, a Mumbai street favorite, appeared on a whim while a bartender shook out a row of signature cocktails. The lounge’s gin-based Virgin Limitless, served in a stem glass, mixes hibiscus with rose and is Barbie pink with a foamy white top.
The lounge’s official opening this month at SFO highlights Air India’s ongoing rejuvenation after exiting state control in 2021. The airline is on the first leg of its self-rediscovery after returning to private ownership under the Tata Group. Deregulation of the airline industry nearly 50 years ago may have proven disastrous in the United States — gutting union wages, deserting smaller communities in favor of big city hubs and exploiting budget travelers — but Air India’s return to private ownership seems more positive for now.
It’s a homecoming for the airline, which was founded as Tata Airlines in 1932. It was later nationalized as Air India in 1953. Before the $2.4 billion sale five years ago, the airline was a financial deadweight for the country, costing taxpayers almost $3 million a day to operate. Back under the wing of the Tata Group — a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai that owns everything from the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Jaguar Land Rover and the company producing the tea bags offered inside the lounge — Air India is accelerating its rebrand.
No place announces its makeover moment to the world quite like the Maharaja Lounge in San Francisco.
Named after the Sanskrit word for a king or monarch, the lounge at SFO was designed to illustrate the past while relishing modern luxuries. The airline has ordinary lounges at Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy International airports, but SFO is the first overseas location for its premium lounge brand.
The aptly titled Aviator’s Bar honors the past with 20th century aviation motifs built into the structure. The ceiling is a row of propeller shafts and the barstools are the same beige color as the airline’s first aircraft from 1932. The first person to earn a commercial pilot’s license in India was J.R.D. Tata, and his legacy is depicted on the walls with photographs of his famed voyages.
HBA, founded as Hirsch Bedner Associates, a Singapore-based interior designer with a San Francisco office, was behind the design, and Mohit Gandhi, the head of lounge strategy at Air India, said the guideline was “sophisticated Indian culture.”
The distinct and thoughtful art pieces throughout the lounge speak loudest to that goal. In a private room for first-class travelers only, an illustration of a 747 interior from the airline’s original fleet is juxtaposed with the ancient fabric printing art kalamkari and enclosed within a gold frame. Back in the general area by the bar, another piece superimposes renderings of India’s national flower, the lotus, over an actual Boeing airplane engine part.
Through upcycled art and attentive service, the Maharaja Lounge at SFO was built to compete with the highest excellence in travel luxury — nearly to the point of missing the flight entirely. “This is way more than rows of tables and chairs,” Gandhi told SFGATE. “We really want you to stay for a long while.”