Air New Zealand opened a new, larger lounge at Melbourne Airport this week.

Located on the ground floor of the terminal, the lounge follows the design concept first seen at Air New Zealand’s lounge at Sydney Airport. It offers space for up to 250 passengers in five separate areas, including a self-service food buffet, two self-service drink stations and a coffee area.

The new facility offers 50% more space than Air New Zealand’s previous Melbourne lounge.

“The airline has been investing heavily in the Australian market and promoting its services through its ‘Better Way to Fly’ campaign starring Dave the goose which encourages Australians to travel Air New Zealand to North and South America,” said the airline’s general manager of customer experience, Anita Hawthorne.

“It’s also clear Australians love the Air New Zealand products and services after recently taking out the number one spot in AMR’s 2017 Australia Corporate Reputation Index so we look forward to welcoming customers to our new lounge.”

The Melbourne International Lounge forms part of Air New Zealand’s four-year, NZ$100 million (US$69m) lounge development programme, which has already seen the opening of new facilities in Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, Nadi, Wellington, Queenstown, Hamilton and Invercargill.