Cathay Pacific Removing First Class From Boeing 777-300ERs

Cathay Pacific plans to remove first class from its Boeing 777-300ERs as it installs a new business class product, which has some pretty major implications…

Cathay Pacific eliminating first class with business class retrofit

Cathay Pacific is in the process of introducing a new Boeing 777-300ER business class product, which will be known as Aria Suites. This is a significant upgrade over the carrier’s current 777 business class, and it’s one of the most anticipated new business class products. The plan is for the first aircraft with new cabins to be in service in the coming months.

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One question up until now has been what will happen to the carrier’s existing Boeing 777-300ER first class, which is generally very well regarded. We know that Cathay Pacific eventually plans to introduce a new first class product, which will be known as Halo Suites, but that’s only planned for Boeing 777-9s (the next generation 777 aircraft, which hasn’t yet been certified).

We now have our answer. Cathay Pacific will be retrofitting all existing Boeing 777-300ERs to introduce Aria Suites, and as that happens, first class will be removed from these aircraft.

It’s expected that all of these will be reconfigured over roughly three years, between mid-2024 and mid-2027. In the future, Cathay Pacific will exclusively have first class on Boeing 777-9s. The airline has 21 of these jets on order, and they’ll start to be delivered in late 2025 at the earliest.

I’m curious how the first class swap is executed

Logically, it makes perfect sense that Cathay Pacific would remove its old first class as the airline installs its new business class. Cathay Pacific is an airline dedicated to quality, and no matter how you slice it, it’s not very luxurious to have a nearly two decade old first class suite alongside a brand new business class product.

This is also in line with Cathay Pacific’s long term strategy, since the airline only wants first class on a subset of its fleet, and the 21 Boeing 777-9s on order meet that need, flying to key global hubs.

What I’m curious about here is how exactly this strategy will be implemented:

• Will Cathay Pacific intentionally first reconfigure its 777-300ERs without first class, to keep the existing first class flying for as long as possible?
• When will Cathay Pacific actually take delivery of its first 777-9s? Cathay Pacific isn’t the launch customer, and the aircraft is not even certified, so with the increased scrutiny on Boeing, one can’t help but wonder
• Will there be a period where Cathay Pacific offers no first class at all? At a minimum I’m confident there will be a period where Cathay Pacific has at most a very small first class feet, as it’s not like Cathay Pacific will have 20+ 777-9s flying in the next few years
• Will Cathay Pacific keep all of its first class facilities open throughout this transition, including The Pier First Lounge and The Wing First Lounge in Hong Kong?

Ultimately this seems like a smart strategy on Cathay Pacific’s part, and the airline is doing what it can to manage the delay of five years (so far) on the 777-9.

I guess mentally I’m just prepared for the 777-9 to not actually enter service in 2025, or even 2026, or 2027, given that Boeing can’t even get the 737 MAX 7 or 737 MAX 10 certified. Admittedly those planes are requiring some redesign, but it doesn’t change the fact that the 777-9 was designed under the same leadership team behind these jets, so we’ll have to see how this plays out…

Bottom line

Cathay Pacific will soon start introducing its new Aria Suites business class on Boeing 777s. The airline will install this product throughout its 777-300ER fleet, and as that happens, we can expect first class to be eliminated on the planes that do feature first class.

So eventually no 777-300ERs will have first class, but rather the plan is that first class will once again make an appearance on the 777-9s, which will be delivered… well, at some point. Who knows, because we’re talking about Boeing.

It’s anyone’s guess how small Cathay Pacific’s first class fleet gets for some time, as it all depends on Cathay Pacific’s aircraft retrofit speed, plus Boeing’s ability to deliver the 777-9. I think it’s safe to assume the first class fleet will at some point be down to under 10 aircraft. The question is whether there will be a period where Cathay Pacific has no planes with first class — I wouldn’t be surprised to see it.

What do you make of Cathay Pacific’s first class plans?