In late 2024, 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. With that in mind, we’re continuing to see these seats introduced on more planes, and this project is now roughly half done.
In this post, I’d like to go over the current state of the rollout, especially as an increasing number of routes are now served with the Aria Suite cabins. 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 seven years due to certification issues).
As it currently stands, 17 Cathay Pacific 777-300ERs have been reconfigured with the new cabins. This includes the planes with the following registration codes:
- B-KPA
- B-KPE
- B-KPF
- B-KPI
- B-KPO
- B-KPR
- B-KPU
- B-KPX
- B-KPZ
- B-KQC
- B-KQH
- B-KQL
- B-KQQ
- B-KQT
- B-KQU
- B-KQV
- B-KQX
Cathay Pacific is reconfiguring planes in Xiamen (XMN), and it seems that each jet takes around seven weeks to get interior overhauls, which is quite a long time.
Which routes feature Cathay Pacific Aria Suite seats?
Which routes is Cathay Pacific currently operating with its Aria Suite Boeing 777-300ERs? Keep in mind that airlines adjust their schedules over time, particularly with the switches between IATA summer and winter seasons (which happen in late October and late March of each year).
As it currently stands, you’ll find planes with the Aria Suite cabins scheduled to operate flights between Hong Kong (HKG) and the following destinations:
- Frankfurt (FRA) — daily on the CX289/288 rotation
- London (LHR) — daily on the CX255/250 rotation
- Los Angeles (LAX) — daily on the CX884/885 rotation
- Melbourne (MEL) — daily on the CX163/178 rotation
- Milan (MXP) — daily on the CX233/234 rotation
- San Francisco (SFO) — daily on the CX872/873 rotation
- Sapporo (CTS) — daily on the CX580/581 rotation
- Sydney (SYD) — daily on the CX101/100 & CX138/139 rotation
- Tokyo Haneda (HND) — daily on the CX548/549 rotation
- Vancouver (YVR) — daily on the CX888/865 rotation
On top of that, you’ll find planes with the Aria Suite product operating select frequencies to Bangkok (BKK) and Beijing (PEK), though there’s significant variation based on the day of the week and month.
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.
What are the best ways to verify that a route features Aria Suite seats?
- If you look up a flight on Google Flights, it’ll show as having an “Individual suite” product in business class if it has Aria Suite, rather than showing as having a “Lie flat seat”
- If you look up a flight on Cathay Pacific’s website, you’ll see the aircraft type listed, so click on that, and if the plane features Aria Suite, the seat map will specifically say there are “45 Aria suites”
- If you look at a seat map, you’ll see that the 777-300ER with the Aria Suite product has 45 business class seats, rather than 40; you’ll notice that the plane has seats in row 14 (unlike the non-Aria Suite product), and also has four seats in row 20 (unlike the non-Aria Suite product, where there are just two seats)
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 17 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 consistently find the planes flying from Hong Kong to Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Milan, San Francisco, Sapporo, Sydney, Tokyo, and Vancouver. You can expect more routes to get the new product as time goes on.
What do you make of Cathay Pacific’s Aria Suite routes?
Is google flights still correct? In flying LAX-HKG in a couple weeks.
Google flights says “lie flat seat” but the seat map has seats in Row 14, four seats in row 20, and 45 total business class seats.
@Ben - on a slightly related note, I was looking at your La Premiere routes blog yesterday as I was looking at flights out of JFK for next month and noticed that every AF flight is saying it now features the new one. Was there a big update recently? Your blog still shows the two daily flights having it, but it appears all ~5 flights do now have it.
Ugh. Wish JFK-HKG got this. Oh well. 2 of 3 daily flights usually on a350, so not bad.
@Lucky,
Typo: "CX8884/885" should be "CX884/885"
Last month I flew in Aria Suite for 2.5 hours, followed by 12 hours in the old configuration. I wish it could have been the other way around.
Thanks for this update. Any thoughts on how this new business class seat improves on the old one?
"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"
I wouldn't be surprised if the 779s get something slightly different that would deviate from the current suites and the A350s get the same seats as the 779s down the line....
"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"
I wouldn't be surprised if the 779s get something slightly different that would deviate from the current suites and the A350s get the same seats as the 779s down the line.
I could see more improvements being made such as improved storage options especially with a wider cabin, etc.
Cathay is big no consistency.
The B777-9 will get exactly the same seat, the A350 is also likely to receive it to but at a much later date as the fleet is still young.
I could see further refinements being made to the seat similar to how the A350 seats were improved from its predecessor.
SFO flights showing non Aria Suite (A350) flights in November.
Standard for Cathay - they use A350 by default and update the schedule ~3-9mo out for the seasonal schedule.