Here’s a positive and overdue development, if you ask me…
Air France HOP business class changes coming October 2025
In May 2024, Air France announced plans to overhaul the cabins of its Embraer E190s, operated by regional subsidiary HOP. The good news is that this means the cabins will be much more modern, with all seats getting a smartphone holder, a cup holder, adjustable headrests, and USB-A and USB-C outlets.
However, as planes are reconfigured, they’re also going from 100 seats to 110 seats, so the cabin is being densified. There’s a silver lining to this, though. Historically, Air France HOP has not blocked adjacent seats in business class on the Embraer jets, meaning business class passengers have had to deal with a seat mate, just like in economy.
That will soon be changing. As of October 1, 2025, Air France HOP will begin blocking aisle seats in business class on Embraer jets, meaning each passenger will get a pair of seats. This applies on both the Embraer E170s and E190s, and it also applies regardless of whether a particular flight features the new cabins or not.
Up until now, if you looked at the business class seat map, you’d see something like the below…
…while as of October 1, 2025, you’ll see something like the below.
For what it’s worth, as of now seat maps have only been updated through March 28, 2026. No, that doesn’t mean Air France will backtrack as of March 29. Instead, the airline has so far just updated its schedule through the end of the IATA winter season, so expect IATA summer season updates in the coming months.
This makes a material difference to the experience
Intra-Europe business class isn’t ordinarily much to get excited about. One of the primary selling points is generally that you get an empty seat next to you, so at least you have a bit more personal space.
With that in mind, no longer having a seat mate when flying on these regional jets is a great development, and will also make for a more consistent experience between aircraft types. A customer shouldn’t have to worry about whether their flight is operated by a regional jet or mainline aircraft, since pricing is the same, and many markets have service from different types of aircraft.
For planes with 2-2 layouts, European carriers seem divided as to whether or not they block seats in business class. To state the obvious, it’s more costly to block a seat in a 2-2 layout than in a 3-3 layout (since each passenger is getting an extra seat, rather than half an extra seat). Among European carriers:
- On one end of the spectrum, Lufthansa Group blocks adjacent business class seats on all regional jets, on Austrian, Lufthansa, and SWISS
- On the other end of the spectrum, IAG doesn’t block adjacent business class seats on all regional jets, including on British Airways and Iberia
- Now we have Air France-KLM in the middle with Air France blocking adjacent business class seats as of this fall, and KLM not blocking adjacent seats
Bottom line
As of October 2025, Air France HOP will begin blocking adjacent business class seats on all Embraer E170 and E190 flights. This was promised back when plans were announced for these planes to get new cabins, which includes installing 10 additional seats.
I’m happy to see this policy finally implemented, as this was a weak point of the premium experience for what I’d otherwise consider to be (by far) Europe’s most luxurious global carrier.
What do you make of Air France rolling out regional jet seat blocking?
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