In February 2026, Cathay Pacific formally unveiled its new regional business class product, which will be branded as the Aria Studio. This is intended to replace the carrier’s current regional product, which isn’t very competitive.
The airline has today revealed more details about the new product, including publishing a dedicated webpage, and also uploading a new video. Let’s look at all the details (thanks to Mike O. for flagging this)…
In this post:
Cathay Pacific’s new Aria Studio regional business class
Cathay Pacific intends to introduce a new regional business class product, which will be branded as the Aria Studio (as a reminder, Cathay Pacific’s new long haul business class is known as the Aria Suite, so that’s spiffy branding).
The new Aria Suite product is a reverse herringbone seat, so it’ll be in a 1-2-1 configuration. The idea is that this is a slightly tighter version of a reverse herringbone seat than the Aria Suite, and there will be no privacy doors.
As you can see, the product has everything from an enclosed storage compartment with a vanity, to dedicated laptop storage, to wireless charging, to a swiveling 4K entertainment monitor, to bluetooth audio.
Below is the new video that Cathay Pacific has released about the seat.
It’s not entirely clear to me if this is based on JPA Design’s Airtek seating platform (in which case Cathay Pacific would be the launch customer), or if it’s based on the STELIA OPERA WB platform (the same as Air France’s A350 business class).
The Aria Studio product is expected to be retrofitted on many existing A330-300s as of late 2026, and will also be installed on newly delivered A330-900neos, which are due as of 2028. Not all existing A330s will be getting the product, though, as the plan is for the older jets to be retired in the coming years, while the newer planes will get these cabins.
Unfortunately it doesn’t sound like there are plans to offer these seats on A321neos (Cathay Pacific’s only narrow body planes) or on regional 777s (which will be retired in the coming years). The A321neos are getting a retrofit, but that’s only resulting in improvements in economy.
For context, currently Cathay Pacific’s regional A330 business class consists of recliner seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. These seats don’t recline very much and have a hard shell design, and personally I don’t find them to be terribly comfortable for relaxing or sleeping.
It’s worth emphasizing that Cathay Pacific also largely flies long haul aircraft on regional routes, so it’s very common to get flat beds on these routes. That’s because the carrier’s long haul A330s, A350s, and 777s, often operate shorter flights between longer sectors.
So you may very well find yourself on an A330 with flat beds, but the distinction is that those aren’t intended to be regional aircraft.
Cathay Pacific currently has a fleet of 39 Airbus A330s, split between regional and long haul aircraft. What has long been remarkable about this fleet is just how many variants Cathay Pacific has, as the fleet has six different layouts:
- One regional configuration features eight flat bed (former) first class seats, 42 recliner business class seats, and 230 economy seats
- One regional configuration features 42 recliner business class seats and 265 economy seats
- One regional configuration features 24 recliner business class seats and 293 economy seats
- One long haul configuration features 39 flat bed business class seats and 223 economy seats
- One long haul configuration features 28 flat bed business class seats and 265 economy seats
- One long haul configuration features 38 flat bed business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, and 214 economy seats
I have to imagine that part of the goal with this retrofit is to standardize the A330 fleet a bit, as having so many variants can’t be efficient.
This is a fantastic development for Cathay Pacific!
Cathay Pacific is a world class airline, one of the world’s best airline brands, as far as I’m concerned. The carrier has gorgeous lounges, and an impressive new long haul business class product.
When you look at the competitive landscape, there’s no denying that the carrier’s regional business class product has become a bit uncompetitive. Sure, most people probably don’t “need” a flat bed on a relatively short flight within Asia, though it is increasingly becoming the norm.
Just looking at Cathay Pacific’s closest competitors, Singapore Airlines and Starlux Airlines have flat beds on all of their aircraft, and China Airlines, EVA Air, and Korean Air, are increasingly even taking delivery of narrow body planes with flat beds.
I’ve gotta say, Cathay Pacific’s new regional business class product exceeds my expectations. I sort of expected for the airline to go with something like the Collins Aerospace Diamond seat, which is very space efficient, and barely takes up more space than Cathay Pacific’s current regional business class.
So to see the airline instead go for a reverse herringbone regional business class product is awesome, and a nice investment in the passenger experience.
Bottom line
Cathay Pacific is introducing a new regional business class product, which will be known as the Aria Studio. This will be installed on regional A330s, including existing A330-300s (except for those that are being retired in the coming years), plus upcoming A330-900neos.
The airline will be introducing reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, which is a very nice upgrade for regional flying. Cathay Pacific passengers will no doubt appreciate this investment, and I look forward to seeing this product in service.
What do you make of Cathay Pacific’s new regional business class?
Thanks for the hat tip; you know I love you man! haha
-Roughly ~23 frames will be retrofitted (from B-LAJ all the way down and B-HWM)
-According to an interview, it's possible that they can go with a different manufacturer and deviate from the current design if economics are favorable and paxex are similar.
-Economy seats are the HAECO Vector (now ZIM ZP230 as they were acquired by ZIM) which could be found...
Thanks for the hat tip; you know I love you man! haha
-Roughly ~23 frames will be retrofitted (from B-LAJ all the way down and B-HWM)
-According to an interview, it's possible that they can go with a different manufacturer and deviate from the current design if economics are favorable and paxex are similar.
-Economy seats are the HAECO Vector (now ZIM ZP230 as they were acquired by ZIM) which could be found on their A35K, Air New Zealand, Philippine Airlines A35K, Finnair, etc. And while Business could possibly be AirTek, JPA is a design agency, so they could've worked with the likes of Stelia, customized the AirTek platform which in turn became Stelia's Opera.
-Interestingly enough, they went with RAVE for the IFE over the usual Panasonic. While it's the lowest cost option over Panasonic and Thales, they're still pretty decent. I could see the Panasonic ASTROVA OLED system make their way on the A330neos as they'll be for the long-haul (excuse the pun) while the ceos will be around in a much shorter timeframe.
-As for the A321neos, as I've said, I seem them getting a new business class product once the orders have been fulfilled. Possibly in 2 years and with a plan for the A350s released next year.
-I would've loved to see the Cirrus product make their way from the aircraft that are to be refurbished onto to the ones that will be sticking around to the short-medium term (same with the 777s), but you have to take in to account labour, recertifying the aircraft and seats, etc. Probably more cost prohibitive.
-The A330s are now primarily a regional aircraft with select secondary AU, Middle East, and cities in India thrown in. Years ago, you had a separate A330 subfleet that would primarily do AU runs.
It's clearly Stelia Opera. The console is just identical to what we see from the Opera seat on Air France A350.
Airtek is practiclly dead like many other startups. JPA designed the Airtek seat and they did Cathay's CMF/branding design, but it doesn't mean Cathay selected the JPA seat. The biggest problem with Airtek was that the consortium had no party with manufacturing ability. They had designers and engineers, but no one to actually manufacture it.
Ah too bad my regional Cathay flight next month is on a 777-300 (SGN-HKG), so I guess it'll be recliners for me. Originally planned to take the UA flight (it appears to be the only one with lie-flat on the route) but CX let's me sleep in a bit which will certainly be more valuable.
They're known for last minute aircraft swaps so it's possible that you can end up on a regional 773 or any other 77W including Aria-equipped aircraft.
Would love to see Cathay bring back partner availability in J/F for longhaul (or generally expand cross pacific capacity) so I could try this one day, but doesnt seem to be the direction the industrys going. Guess we have to wait for a recession for those changes.
why would you need partner availability when Citi/Cap 1/Bilt/Rove/Amex (5:4) all transfer to Cathay? incredibly easy to rack up enough points
Some people (especially those outside NA), rack up points primarily through flying and not CCs
Took one of CX's a330 with lie-flat (1-2-1) earlier this year and it's certainly better than 2-2-2 recliners up-front. Upgrading and standardizing the premium cabins would be awesome.
This regional J puts the tailor-made clutter of a certain former 5* Skytrak airline to shame
It's really tough to tell, but to me, this looks like the Stelia Opera WB. That's my bet. It's also possible it could be a heavily cutomized Safran Versa, given Cathay's previous relationship with Safran (at the time they were still Zodiac), but I believe the seat on the Versa is a slightly different shape.
For clarity, the youngest 23 A330-300s will get these seats while the oldest 20 (including all planes four with...
It's really tough to tell, but to me, this looks like the Stelia Opera WB. That's my bet. It's also possible it could be a heavily cutomized Safran Versa, given Cathay's previous relationship with Safran (at the time they were still Zodiac), but I believe the seat on the Versa is a slightly different shape.
For clarity, the youngest 23 A330-300s will get these seats while the oldest 20 (including all planes four with the former first class and both remaining planes with premium economy) will get retired and not get these new seats.
They haven't collaborated with Safran since the Cirrus debacle on the A350 and I don't know if they'll ever work with them on cabin products again.
The Safran Versa would make a lovely platform for the A350.