With its unique offering, Flylounge has landed like a UFO on the Brussels hospitality scene in 2023. The idea is crazy, almost surreal: to install a ‘real’ airliner cabin in offices in the European quarter and use it as an event space. Beyond its technical prowess, Flylounge is a remarkable tour de force achieved largely during the Covid crisis by Alain Loiseau. This former pilot turned entrepreneur has fought his doubts with iron pugnacity to offer Brussels something never seen before.
A mini A319 in rue du Commerce
It took Flylounge 5 epic years to go from concept to final product. 5 years during which, to say the least, Alain Loiseau had his hands full. Finding and buying the front section of a retired Airbus A319 – ‘not that easy’ -, bringing it back to Brussels, dismantling it completely and then reassembling it inside an office space at 65 rue du Commerce. An unprecedented technical feat. ‘By way of example, this type of machine houses around 200 kilometres of electrical wiring’. We then had to adapt it to its new use, bring it up to safety and hygiene standards – with the support of visit.brussels and the region– redo the lighting, the home automation, devise an air conditioning system, invent scenographies… A challenge that was well worth the effort, so much so that, once through the door, the immersion is breathtaking, ‘we even know how to drop the oxygen masks or switch on the buttons to call the hostesses’. The details make the perfection.
A unique playground for events
In figures, Flylounge is 15 m long and can accommodate up to 46 people in ‘classic flight’ mode, but ‘remains modular depending on the configuration’. In fact, Flylounge works like a Swiss army knife, adapting ‘according to the way customers want to use the space. Tailor-made for private events, team-building or recruitment exercises, press conferences, debates, and even film shoots… First customers, first conclusions: the venue attracts and inspires because ‘the themes of the plane and travel carry strong symbolic power’. To further enhance the sense of immersion, the cockpit, which has also been completely reconstructed, is equipped with a flight simulator on which Alain likes to train beginners. A real plus. Thanks to the screens, the brain reconstructs a reality and creates the impression of flying itself, ‘a sensation that always fascinates’. The next step is to open a bistronomic restaurant, ‘weekday lunchtimes’, aimed at the ultra-local clientele of the European quarter.
‘Being well supported means moving faster in the right direction’.
Future marketing challenges
Since its opening in 2023, event after event, Flylounge has been discovering its potential… but also a diversity of customers ‘that we hadn’t necessarily anticipated’. A specificity that makes marketing considerably more complex. Moreover, can such an original offer apply traditional marketing fundamentals, or does it have to invent its own strategy? This is one of the reasons why hub.brussels selected Flylounge to benefit from digital transformation support. The idea is clearly to work with experts in the field to come up with digital solutions that will ‘optimise Flylounge’s marketing and communications’. Alain Loiseau is already thinking bigger and dreams of seeing his concept duplicated in other European capitals.
