Detroit Metropolitan International Airport (DFW) has shelved controversial plans for a cigar lounge inside the McNamara terminal building, although the reason for dropping the idea has nothing to do with growing opposition to the indoor smoking area, according to the airport’s board of directors.
The idea of an indoor smoking area at DTW was first floated in late 2024, and it didn’t take long for health groups and other concerned stakeholders to make their opposition to the lounge very clear.
Plans for the cigar lounge, however, rumbled on until late last week, when the board of directors finally killed the idea. But the reason for cancelling the project wasn’t because the airport had taken heed of health concerns or official opposition from the Wayne County Commission, where DTW is based.
Instead, airport chief executive Chad Newton said the reason for cancelling the cigar lounge was due to the recent collapse of Spirit Airlines.
Senior executives at the airport had been studying the feasibility of the cigar lounge and ultimately concluded that Spirit Airlines’ falling into bankruptcy had dramatically changed the landscape at DTW.
Newton explained: “After extensive analysis, they [airport executives] concluded that in light of the temporary financial and economic uncertainty caused by the closure of Spirit Airlines, now is not the time to promote novel or untested concessions at DTW.”
A coalition of health groups had lined up to criticize the plans, including the American Heart Association, which had claimed the cigar lounge would “expose millions of people to dangerous secondhand smoke.”
Indoor smoking has been banned in the state of Michigan since 2009, although the Wayne County Airport Authority board was looking to use an exemption to operate its indoor cigar lounge for at least 10 years.
One of the biggest players in airport smoking lounges is the tobacco giant Japan Tobacco International, which owns the cigarette brands Camel and Winston outside of the United States. JTI operates around 70 airport smoking lounges worldwide.
Europe is reported to have by far the most indoor airport smoking lounges of any other continent, with exemptions made for these spaces, despite indoor smoking bans in other public spaces.
Currently, there are only three airports in the United States that have indoor smoking rooms: Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport (GPT), and Nashville International Airport (BNA).
