LJLA, which says it has £100m of improvements in the pipeline, has spent the last 18 months carrying out refurbishment work on around 20,000 sq ft in its departure lounge. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) has now completed the final phase of its £5m departure lounge transformation.

LJLA, which says it has £100m of improvements in the pipeline between now and 2030, has spent the last 18 months carrying out refurbishment work on around 20,000 sq ft in its departure lounge.

This latest phase has cost more than £2m and delivers an expansion and redesign of the World Duty Free retail area and the addition of a Traveller fashion store.

Works completed last year saw a number of new retail brands start operating, new shops, bars and restaurants open up and the refurbishment and upgrade of the upper floor of the lounge. In addition, 13 new flight information screens were installed throughout.

This latest phase of work has given World Duty Free the opportunity to introduce two of the high street’s biggest beauty brands to the airport for the first time with MAC and Jo Malone dedicated areas now included within the store.

Similarly, Traveller brings a number of major fashion houses to LJLA, including, Superdry, The North Face and Calvin Klein.

The local economy has benefited from these latest improvements too, with more than 50 new jobs having been created at the airport over the past 18 months, following the introduction of these new and improved retail areas.

Lucy O’Shaughnessy, LJLA’s commercial director, said, “These latest improvements have been completed just in time as we enter the busiest part of the year for the airport, with hundreds of thousands of passengers expected to pass through during the busy summer months.

“Having listened carefully to our passengers, we now believe we have passenger facilities here at Liverpool which are up there with the best of any UK regional airport.”