The economics of lounges

How do the economics of lounges at low-usage non-hub airports work out?

I'm specifically thinking of the VS lounge at Narita.

There's one VS flight per day. So they'll have one lounge open for about 4 hours per day max, but rent it for 24 hours a day, and have to find people willing to work only 4 hours per day, and get all the food and stuff for just that one flight (not that I've ever managed to get there early enough to get an onigiri, despite several attempts ! ).

Surely the cost-benefit ratio is completely wrong and they would be much better off striking a deal with someone whose hub it is (e.g. ANA)? (Oh, and someone who can actually offer a decent product, unlike, say, VS' deal with Delta at MCO, which I recently had the misfortune to experience.)

Mark

Location of lounges all comes down to space which is why the VS lounges at e.g. JFK (about to change though), EWR and SFO are landside whilt at others it is airside.

Sharing a lounge comes down to space too and the timing of flights. For example at ORD VS used to use the JAL lounge but changed to the SAS lounge when JAL changed terminals. I imagine that if the departre times were closer together then there would be no sharing in place.

Only operating part of the year would also effect the economics too e.g. ORD and YVR (nothing on the VS website about lounge there though yet). The airlines will have appropriate cross-charging arrangemtns in place and you can bet that the 'host' airline will be keeping accurate records (this will also explain why the lounge gate keepers will be pretty hot on not admitting non valid pax as they will have to bear the costs of any 'interlopers')

Sometimes having a 'bad' lounge is better than having no lounge at all. So if all that was on offer at MCO was the DL lounge then there is not a lot VS can do as there may simply not be enough space there for a dedicated VS lounge even if VS wanted one.

Also airports might offer incentives to an airline to operate there and that might include a reduced rent for a lounge.

As to the staff I guess that after their shifts in one lounge they go and work for another airline.

[honey lamb]

While I can't comment specifically on the lounge in Narita, many of the VS lounges in places where there is only one flight a day are used by other airlines during the times when not used by VS passengers. I have arrived at the one in IAD just as the last passengers for an SAA flight were leaving and also in EWR and JNB a call has come for passengers for other airlines.