Several months ago, we saw Cathay Pacific launch its new Aria Suite business class. I’ve had the chance to fly it, and it’s a phenomenal product. Cathay Pacific is a world class airline, and this really elevates the carrier’s business class to being among the best in the world.
As is the case with any new product, the challenge is the lengthy rollout, as actually retrofitting aircraft with a new product can take years. There’s an exciting update, though, as the Aria Suite will shortly be making its North America debut. Let me recap all the details, including which planes have the Aria Suite product, and which routes the planes regularly fly.
In this post:
Which planes have Cathay Pacific Aria Suite seats?
Cathay Pacific’s Aria Suite business class is debuting on Boeing 777-300ERs. Specifically, the airline is reconfiguring its entire fleet of long haul 777s with these new cabins, and hopes to finish this project by the end of 2027.
There are no firm plans to retrofit this product on other long haul aircraft, including the Airbus A330, Airbus A350, etc. Furthermore, regional Boeing 777s won’t be getting these cabins. However, this is also the product we’ll find on the carrier’s new Boeing 777-9s, once those are delivered (the aircraft has already been delayed by at least six years due to certification issues).
As it currently stands, five Cathay Pacific 777-300ERs have been reconfigured with the new cabins. This includes the planes with the following registration codes:
The sixth plane to get the new cabins has the registration code B-KQX, but it’s still in the “shop” in Xiamen (XMN).
Which routes feature Cathay Pacific Aria Suite seats?
Which routes is Cathay Pacific currently operating with its Aria Suite Boeing 777-300ERs? Currently, you’ll find the plane operating between Hong Kong (HKG) and the following destinations:
- Beijing (PEK) 6x weekly (excludes Saturday), on the CX334/335 rotation
- London (LHR) daily, on the CX255/250 rotation
- Sydney (SYD) 6x weekly (excludes Wednesday to Sydney and Thursday to Hong Kong), on the CX161/162 rotation
- Vancouver (YVR) 3x weekly (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday), on the CX888/865 rotation; this is new as of June 5, 2025
As you can see, the Vancouver route is new, and it’ll be the first destination in North America to consistently get the Aria Suite product. That’s exciting.
Let me of course add the disclaimer that aircraft assignments are always subject to change, and you’ll want to consult the seat map for the flight you’re looking to book, to confirm that it’s expected to feature the Aria Suite. Furthermore, the above assignments apply through the end of the IATA summer 2025 travel schedule, which goes through late October 2025. Aircraft assignments haven’t consistently been updated beyond that.
If you’re looking to redeem miles for this product, keep in mind that Cathay Pacific’s own program has access to the most award space, so that’s how you’d want to book.
Bottom line
Cathay Pacific currently has five Boeing 777-300ERs equipped with the new Aria Suite business class product, and plans to reconfigure all 777-300ERs by the end of 2027.
Currently, you’ll find the planes flying from Hong Kong to Beijing, London, and Sydney, with Vancouver now scheduled as the next destination. I’m delighted to see that the Aria Suite will finally be available to a destination in North America!
What do you make of Cathay Pacific’s Aria Suite routes?
YVR has seen a weirdly high number of new product debuts on its routes in the last year or so - it was Lufthansa's first Allegris route, the first for Korean's new 787 business class, and now the North American debut for Cathay's Aria suites.
(the Cathay one makes the most sense of the bunch - YVR-HKG sees really solid traffic, to the point where they used to have a crew base in Vancouver iirc)
CX250 LHR to HK on Nov 26 is showing A350 - I can't see any 77J flights operating out of LHR to HK - can you help
I got all excited about this before realizing that my J flight YVR-HKG this September departs on Friday and returns Wednesday...oh well. It's my first time flying CX so I'm still looking forward to it.
Check again. The seat maps for my flights just updated to show the new Aria-based layout, and my flight days don't seem to align with what's in the article.
Flying on 865 on Saturday August 23rd, and it's still showing the old layout.
@ JB -- Indeed, as mentioned in the post, YVR gets the new product as of June 5, 2025, so you're missing it by a few days, sadly.
Might be a issue of the day itself. We're flying YVR-HKG Saturday August 23rd, 2025. I'll keep checking and will post if the layout does change.
Perhaps it's the Saturday 888 from HKG-YVR that would fly YVR-HKG as 865 on Sunday (0120h) that gets the facelifted aircraft?
Seat maps were just updated to show new layout.
Both my flights are now on Aria-updated aircraft!
Saturday Aug. 23 YVR-HKG
Monday Sept. 29 HKG-YVR
I flew the CX HKG-CHC flight in February. I thought it was an A-350, but it had the Aria Suites. Very nice.
@ Terry -- Hah, so the A350 also has an excellent business class product, and I believe that's the only plane that has operated the CHC route. Maybe that's what you actually flew? Was there a door at the seat?
I sort of struggle to see anything about the Aria to make it a world leading business seat. Perhaps I haven't read enough details about it?
@ Only first -- Nowadays most improvements to seats are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, since airlines aren't willing to dedicate that much more space to seats. But the upgraded tech makes a big difference, and this is definitely a huge step up from the Safran Cirrus product the airline previously had.
@Ben, will you be posting anything about Global's Manchester debut?
@ hbilbao -- Hmmm, about the second round of flights, from MAN to JFK? I covered how they seemed to be quite empty (again), but didn't see anything beyond that.
I stumbled upon a YouTuber who claimed that the second flight was extremely improved (e.g., lightning fast meal service, better entertainment system, etc). That got me curious about the whole thing again (esp. the return flights to Europe). Anyways, for what's worth, the plane looked emptier than when it flew GLA-JFK.
Ben, to report or not to report the FA …. that is still the question? …. :-)
Checking CX 888 next April, it shows as an A350-900, as does CX 810.
The last 777 flight is Oct 26, 2025, before it switches to an A350.
Bummer.
@ Todd -- I'll update the post to reflect that this is for the current season, thanks. To be clear, I wouldn't assume the plane will necessarily be taken off the route at the end of the IATA summer travel season, but instead, airlines just often don't update their schedules that far out.
This is nice. But for routes like New York and London, that get both the 777s and the A350s daily, it will create a further wedge at the front end of the plane, as the A350 will have neither First nor the Arua suites.
How many of the long-haul 777s getting the new Aria suites will get to keep, versus lose the First Class cabin?
@ at -- As planes are reconfigured with Aria Suite seats, they're having first class removed. Then we'll see first class introduced again on the new 777-9 deliveries. How the timeline of all of this works out remains to be seen.
got it, thanks.
So ultimately the 777-9s and (long-haul) 777-300ERs will have Aria but A350s still won't, and only the 777-9s will have F?
Going by their typical timeline, the A350s are ripe for an upgrade, so I anticipate a new product in a few years a long with a top-up order for more A350s.