In 2024, Cathay Pacific announced plans to introduce a new regional business class product. The carrier’s current regional business class seat isn’t terribly competitive, but we’ve known that the airline wants to introduce flat beds.
There’s now an exciting update, as the new seat has been unveiled (thanks to Mike O. for flagging this). While this was unofficially unveiled a couple of days ago at an event, the airline has now put out its first public renderings of the product, so I’d like to provide some updates.
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. Below is the first 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).
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 the 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 reitred 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?
Passenger perceptions vary from region to region, however, to summarise my perception through experience:
Asia leads the world when it comes to quality regional air transportation. This CX example is indicative. Europe definitely lags behind Asia. When it comes to the U.S. regional air transport system, there is an obvious need for immense improvement all round.
Long overdue and I am glad that they are rolling out what looks to be an excellent product
It's Stelia Opera. Cathay has nothing to do with Airtek at all. The Airtek rumor all started from the personal theory of Jonny Clark(TheDeisnAir). He wrote an article back in 2023 that Aria Suite would be Airtek, but it turned out to be just a customized version of Collins Elements.
JPA is involved in Airtek, but it doesn't mean they brought Airtek to Cathay. It's nothing different from what they did to Air India—CMF/styling/branding...
It's Stelia Opera. Cathay has nothing to do with Airtek at all. The Airtek rumor all started from the personal theory of Jonny Clark(TheDeisnAir). He wrote an article back in 2023 that Aria Suite would be Airtek, but it turned out to be just a customized version of Collins Elements.
JPA is involved in Airtek, but it doesn't mean they brought Airtek to Cathay. It's nothing different from what they did to Air India—CMF/styling/branding only.
Airtek is a consortium of JPA Design, Williams Advanced Engineering and SWS Aircraft Certification, and there's one area missing—manufacturing. This consortium doesn't have any manufacturing capability. They were looking for someone to manufacture the seat for them for years, but who will? Every aircraft seat manufacturer wants to own the IP of the seat they make, not become a contractor.
"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."
The A330s are now relegated to regional routes with Cairns and select South Asian cities such as Hyderabad and Colombo. But before the arrival of the A350s, you saw the A330s in all Australian ports until Hong Kong ran out of bilateral rights and eventually had to upgauge to the...
"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."
The A330s are now relegated to regional routes with Cairns and select South Asian cities such as Hyderabad and Colombo. But before the arrival of the A350s, you saw the A330s in all Australian ports until Hong Kong ran out of bilateral rights and eventually had to upgauge to the 77W. You also saw the A330s in Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Doha for a short while, Riyadh, and Jeddah.
Ben, a bit nitpicky perhaps, but since JX invariably comes up in these discussions due to its all-flatbed fleet (putting AI and CX A321neos to shame):
Why do you not write STARLUX in uppercase like you write SWISS? After all, the airline always writes STARLUX in uppercase (as do some other bloggers like Singapore’s MileLion), yet you — and I — write Starlux in sentence case. I write Swiss, too, in sentence case, so why do you write SWISS and Starlux differently?
And like I've said, the Airtek was designed by a consortium who in turn, licensed the product. So the Aria Suites while the Collins' Elements platform, took design cues from JPAs Airtek, Same could be said for Stelia platform.
Either way, it's still a familiar reverse-herringbone layout and they excel in consistency.
Oof!
I don’t find them to be terribly comfortable for relaxing or sleeping. How about just “i don’t find them comfortable” Isn’t “terribly comfortable” an oxymoron. Asking for a friend. Lay low on extra words. It’s tedious to read. Don’t think too much or water might be wet. Heyoooo! Love your site and reviews !
Wrong, you can literally see the branding of JPA and Williams on the renderings of the seat.
Apparently, they'll be retrofitting about ~20 aircraft or so (an educated guess depending on age of the aircraft) and they want to reduce the reduce the configuration to 1. So I could see 28-34 seats. And no Premium Economy. Earlier-build A330s that are much older have been or will be refreshed and will leave in the short-medium term. And if there's an economic downturn, retirement will be much quicker.
I was thinking, the outgoing Cirrus...
Apparently, they'll be retrofitting about ~20 aircraft or so (an educated guess depending on age of the aircraft) and they want to reduce the reduce the configuration to 1. So I could see 28-34 seats. And no Premium Economy. Earlier-build A330s that are much older have been or will be refreshed and will leave in the short-medium term. And if there's an economic downturn, retirement will be much quicker.
I was thinking, the outgoing Cirrus product could've been transferred over to the refreshed A330s to maintain consistency (ditto with the outgoing 77W product onto the regional 773), but I'm sure that there's more to it aside from logistics and cost, let alone re-certifying the aircraft and product.