In the spring of 2024, Air France announced plans to update the cabins of the aircraft belonging to its regional subsidiary. While this project getting underway took longer than expected, there’s now a positive update, as the first aircraft with new cabins is in service.
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Air France HOP Embraer E190s get cabin makeover
Air France HOP is Air France’s regional subsidiary, operating a fleet of over 30 Embraer aircraft, including E170s and E190s. Thanks to a current project, all Air France HOP Embraer E190s are getting new cabins.
The first of these planes has entered service in recent days, and it’s a 10-year-old plane with the registration code F-HBLV. The expectation is that all E190s will get the new cabins by the summer of 2026. This project is specifically for the E190s, as there are no plans to retrofit the cabins of E170s.
Air France is partnering with French seating manufacturer Expliseat on this new product. The seat is 30% lighter than the previous product, thanks to the use of a carbon fiber and titanium seat combining a lightweight and sustainable design with “enhanced comfort, durability and functionality.”
As the jets are reconfigured, they’re going from having 100 seats to having 110 seats, so that’s quite the capacity increase. Since one flight attendant is required for every 50 seats, this also means that Air France HOP E190s are going from having two flight attendants to having three flight attendants.
Each seat features up to three inches of recline, storage spaces, a smartphone holder, a cup holder, flip-up armrests, a jacket rack, adjustable headrests, and USB-A and USB-C outlets. As these planes are reconfigured, Air France HOP is also introducing free high speed Wi-Fi, which is exciting, as these planes didn’t previously offer connectivity. This is actually a major milestone for the airline, as these are the first Air France aircraft to feature Starlink Wi-Fi.
While the new seats being installed on regional jets are different than what you’ll find on Air France’s mainline jets, the airline explains that the new seats are “consistent with the high standards of comfort offered on board the Airbus A220.” As these new seats are installed, the entire cabin decor is also being given a makeover in the signature Air France colors, ranging from the bulkheads to the carpet.
Some time back I reviewed the Air France HOP Embraer E190 business class experience, on the short flight between Paris and Frankfurt, just to give you a sense of what customers have historically experienced on these planes. Air France’s Embraer E190s previously had fairly “retro” cabins, in a good way. That’s to say that the seat padding was quite good, as the planes didn’t have slimline seats, like you’ll find on most newer aircraft.
Air France HOP hugely improving business class
People will probably have mixed opinions as to whether the new cabins are positive or negative. The new seats probably aren’t as well padded as the old ones, but the tech and cabin finishes are improving considerably. How awesome that these planes have power ports and free high speed Wi-Fi.
Beyond that, there’s one other major thing that’s improving, which business class passengers will appreciate. My biggest complaint with the previous experience on these jets is that business class didn’t offer blocked adjacent seats, as you’ll find in the mainline fleet.
This makes a huge difference in terms of comfort, and it would be nice to have a consistent experience regardless of whether you end up on a mainline or regional jet. After all, the fares are the same, so the experience should be similar as well.
Fortunately that’s also changing. As of October 2025, Air France HOP will begin offering blocked adjacent seats in business class, meaning that business class passengers will no longer have a seat mate. This is a phenomenal development, which I’m very happy to see. This will apply to all Air France HOP planes, regardless of whether or not they’ve been reconfigured.
As I’ve said many times, I’m delighted to see how Air France continues to improve its passenger experience, especially on long haul flights. The carrier’s new Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-300ER business class products are great, while the Airbus A220-300s on short haul flights also offer a very pleasant experience.
Bottom line
Air France HOP Embraer E190s are getting new cabins, in a project that’s now underway, and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2026.
With this, we’re seeing new seats, new cabin finishes, power ports, personal device holders, and free Wi-Fi. While the capacity of the jets is increasing from 100 seats to 110 seats, we’re also starting to see adjacent seats in business class be blocked, which is an overdue development.
What do you make of these updates to Air France HOP Embraer E190s?
Looks nice but can't imagine it'll be very comfortable in such a dense configuration.
Speaking of dense configuration, have you seen that Qatar Airways have added A321neos to their winter timetable? Hoping it's a mistake, but there's no business or first available for booking, and it shows 236 economy seats. That's Easyjet level of discomfort. Even worse than BA or LH
They must be getting them from another airline's cancelled orders, especially after making all that noise previously about having suites and a new "revolutionary" Economy on their A321neos.
Meanwhile THAI have also announced their routes for the A321neos, with only 175 seats!
The seat blocking in biz is long, long overdue. I think only resident grump SanGottardo on FT (love him!) will lament this change, but otherwise everyone should enjoy this change.
It seems KLM cityhopper isn’t following Air France’s lead.
Colours could be mistaken for BA or Delta.
But way OT, just to let you know Alaska/Hawaiian converted their 789 orders to the -10!