In August 2023, Cathay Pacific teased its new business class product, without revealing many details. The airline has finally today unveiled its new business class seat, and I’m excited!
In this post:
Cathay Pacific plans new Boeing 777 business class
Hong Kong-based oneworld member Cathay Pacific will be introducing a new business class on its Boeing 777-300ERs, and the product will be known as Aria Suite. This new seat was initially supposed to be introduced as of the second quarter of 2024, but there’s no longer an exact timeline, beyond the product debuting in 2024.
There’s now a 90-second video of the new product. Here’s what we do know about Cathay Pacific’s new Aria Suite business class:
- These are reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration
- The seats have privacy doors, which is increasingly becoming the standard in business class
- The seats have great tech, including 24″ 4K entertainment screens that’s in a fixed position, bluetooth audio, and wireless charging
- The seats have enclosed storage compartments
- The seats appear to be the AIRTEK product from JPA Design, so if that’s the case, Cathay Pacific will be the launch customer for this product
Will other Cathay Pacific aircraft get these new seats?
Keep in mind that Cathay Pacific was initially intending to introduce all-new premium cabins on its Boeing 777-9s, of which the airline has 21 on order. However, that aircraft has been delayed by at least five years due to certification issues, from 2020 to 2025 (or later).
Presumably Cathay Pacific decided it was time to refresh its cabins even before those planes enter service. I would assume that Cathay Pacific intends to introduce the same product on 777-9s, since I can’t imagine the airline would introduce two separate long haul business class products just a couple of years apart.
So far there’s no indication of Cathay Pacific refreshing its Airbus A350s, though I imagine that could come at some point as well.
What about Cathay Pacific first class?
Some of Cathay Pacific’s Boeing 777-300ERs feature a first class cabin. This consists of six seats, spread across two rows in a 1-1-1 configuration. While this isn’t the world’s most private first class, it is one of my favorites.
With Cathay Pacific introducing a new business class product on 777s, what about first class? Well, Cathay Pacific is developing a new first class seat, which is rumored to be named Halo Suite. However, this will only be introduced on Boeing 777-9s in 2025 and beyond, so there are no plans for this to make its debut on existing 777s in 2024.
I’m curious to see how exactly this plays out. Will Cathay Pacific follow British Airways’ lead in having doors at business class seats, but not at first class seats? Or will Cathay Pacific first reconfigure all 777s in a three cabin configuration (without first class), to avoid that for the time being?
Honestly, Cathay Pacific’s first class is excellent, so even without doors, it wouldn’t be a tough sell to maintain this product and get a premium for it over the new business class.
Bottom line
Cathay Pacific will introduce a new business class product on its Boeing 777-300ERs as of some point this year, which will be known as Aria Suite. You can expect new reverse herringbone seats with privacy doors and great tech, in what looks to be a very nice improvement over the existing seat. I’d assume that this is the same product that will eventually be installed on Boeing 777-9s.
I’m impressed by this premium product investment, given what a tough few years Cathay Pacific has had! Obviously the airline is committed to offering a quality product, and that’s always exciting to see.
What do you make of Cathay Pacific’s new Aria Suite business class?
The footwell design seems to be the same as the previous gen business class seats, they even have that extended armrest feature for more sleeping surface. It just seems that this business class looks better in every single way from the color scheme, the design and amenities. Looking forward when this seat enters service!
Does anyone know how large would the economy screens will be?
EXCELLENT-----very tasteful and of course makes one think" do i really need to spend almost twice on a first class ticket"------- for the time being ,maybe not---------LOVE it.!
Meanwhile at Lufthansa……….
LAUGHABLE
I feel like the leg room is smaller. Bad news for side sleepers...
It must be a heavily customised Collins Elements, not Airtek. The console, especially the armrest area looks identical to Elements.
It's possible that JPA has contracted the manufacture of the seat to someone like Collins and thus becoming an ODM.
https://www.seacomp.com/resources/oem-vs-odm-manufacturing
I just received 3 emails from Cathay. One contains the rather limited video spruiking the Aria suite and the other two were concerning a mysterious “seat change” on my companion fare redemption ticket Per-JFK mid October.
I’ve been moved from 12d to 14d Per-Hk but there was no mention of the change from 14d to 18g on the cx 830 Hk-JFK sector! Hmmmmm?
Given there was no 14d I’m guessing the A350 has...
I just received 3 emails from Cathay. One contains the rather limited video spruiking the Aria suite and the other two were concerning a mysterious “seat change” on my companion fare redemption ticket Per-JFK mid October.
I’ve been moved from 12d to 14d Per-Hk but there was no mention of the change from 14d to 18g on the cx 830 Hk-JFK sector! Hmmmmm?
Given there was no 14d I’m guessing the A350 has been changed to the 777-300 which may be fitted with Aria suites? I can’t seem to find which routes the re-fit will fly. Anybody know?
At least they sent you an email about the seat change. I went and checked my seat and found my companion had been moved from a window to a center this morning LAX-HKG. They swapped the 777 for our original A350. I am assuming she (and you) was moved because there is no row 14 on the 777.
Curiously enough, they indicated the seat change from 14 to 12 but Not the change to 18 on the 2nd leg. I only noticed because I never choose 18!
As an aside, I hope Alvin from YTHK is doing alright as he's usually one of the first to pick up anything CX related on his blog! When you get a chance to read this, I hope things are well and happy travels! :D
Lol, I'm at work! I'll post this evening
When CX teased the suites a few months back, your blog had it up by the time I woke up, so I was a bit worried!
Mike. What does YTHK mean? What is Alvin’s website? Thx. Chris
YTHK stands for Young Travellers Hong Kong. This is the website https://youngtravelershongkong.com/
ONeworld is the alliance to beat right now.
AA, Cathay and Qantas are introducing Gorgeous cabin refreshes.
And you know Qatar always has something crazy up their sleeves.
meanwhile Lufthansa is still attempting to introduce a seat they announced, what, 4 years ago now?
You forgot to mention the recently introduced F, J, PE, and E seats in JAL A350-1000, another one from OneWorld.
Does Hawaiian Airlines count if the merger goes through?!
It has been 7 years since Allegris was announced by Lufthansa. They even got a 5 star rating from Skytrax for that. What a joke.
"Will Cathay Pacific follow British Airways’ lead in having doors at business class seats, but not at first class seats?"
Does it really matter if there is a door when the seat is wider, the bedding more comfortable, the TV screen bigger, you can dine with a companion, etc?
With the length of Cathay's flights to Europe and US East Coast having a door is a fantastic amenity when wanting to sleep. I have had several flights in Qsuites and the door really was helpful in getting proper rest (less light, less noise, real sense of privacy). It's not a dealbreaker but I prefer it when resting.
But would a door make a difference to Cathay's current product in first when wanting to sleep?
I actually prefer curtains akin to AFs First Class and CXs dayrooms in The Pier. Hopefully someone comes up with curtains in business in the future.
Preferences are preferences, but I do find that this blog does give a level of concern for the presence/absence of doors, that is way beyond what most premium do.
Then again, it's not like I've conducted a poll, so I'll admit that my take is also speculative.
This looks great! Add to that how business class will a have free WiFi for all future flights and Cathay is waaaaaaay on its way back to being among the top airlines in the world.
Some speculate that the Aria Suite JPA Design's Airtek.
And i hope that the new Economy class seats will also feature 4k screens, like in PEY
From the video, it appears that the screens in Economy will remain as is (Panasonic's eX3 which is Full HD). Their new A321neos are fitted with the NEXT system which has a USB-C port.
https://www.panasonic.aero/our-offerings/systems/x-series/
https://www.panasonic.aero/our-offerings/systems/next-series/
Like I've mentioned in a previous article, it'll be the AIRTEK seat from JPA Design
https://jpadesign.com/product/airtek/
https://thedesignair.net/2023/08/07/jpas-airtek-seat-finds-a-home-in-cathays-future-fleet/
As for the rest of the 77W, CX is looking into converting some 77Ws with a regional product and the costs associate with rejigging the cabin and removing the crew rests.