Most air travellers would have availed lounge access in domestic and international airports through their debit or credit cards. They would also have correctly figured that card issuing entities like HDFC Bank, SBI, ICICI etc tie up with lounge operators like Plaza Premium or Aspire lounges to provide access to their cardholders.
But perhaps it is not commonly known that this tie-up is done through an intermediary which has virtual monopoly with 95% market share of all card-based access in India translating to 68% market share of total lounge access in FY22 across domestic airports.
