Cathay Pacific took the wraps off its latest business-class seat at the moment, displaying off its new “Aria Suite” at a preview occasion in a hangar at Hong Kong Worldwide Airport (HKG).
The airline first revealed plans for the brand new Aria Suite again in March 2024, although the provider has been comparatively quiet about it till now, solely saying that the brand new suites would seem later this 12 months aboard Cathay’s Boeing 777-300ER plane. Effectively, it appears to be like like the primary airplane with the brand new suites is nearly able to take flight later this week — and TPG acquired a sneak peek on the airline’s occasion.
Here is what we noticed on the Cathay Pacific occasion and what you could know concerning the airline’s new business-class seat.
What’s the Cathay Pacific Aria Suite?
Cathay Pacific has been flying a constant model of its present enterprise class (with some updates as newer plane just like the Airbus A350 have gone into service) for over a decade now, so the introduction of the Aria Suite represents an enormous step into the long run for the airline.
That stated, it’s extra of a major evolution than a whole departure for the airline. Like Cathay’s present enterprise class, Aria Suites are specified by a reverse herringbone-style 1-2-1 configuration, so every seat has direct aisle entry.
These on the perimeters of the cabin are angled outward towards the window and are nice for solo vacationers, whereas these within the heart part are angled towards each other, so that they is perhaps preferable for passengers touring with a companion.
Every Aria Suite nonetheless has loads of privateness, although, due to excessive seatback shells, adjustable dividers between the middle seats and shutting doorways shielding them from the aisle. Doorways are an more and more widespread characteristic of next-generation business-class seats, although that is the primary time Cathay Pacific has provided them.
In contrast to another airways like Virgin Atlantic and Starlux which have turned some seats within the first rows of their newest business-class cabins into superior, roomier merchandise, Cathay Pacific’s Aria Suites shall be uniform all through.
Aria Suites are adorned with a extra impartial colour palette of taupe, cream, sand and brown tones somewhat than the airline’s signature inexperienced, creating a relaxing setting on board.
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In addition they incorporate quite a lot of floor and stowage areas, together with a large, woodgrain and marbleized armrest to 1 facet of the seat with a high panel that slides open to disclose a shallow cubby designed for storing valuables. One other handy cubby (with an inside lining that gives a flash of that signature inexperienced) can be tucked into the seatback shell below a classy seat-mounted studying mild.
Among the many technological developments Aria Suites will supply are new 24-inch 4K high-definition leisure screens which are among the many largest provided in enterprise class by any airline. They’ve Bluetooth audio connectivity, so passengers can use their very own headphones. The airline guarantees that passengers will quickly even have the ability to sync up their leisure selections with journey companions due to new system performance.
One significantly fascinating new characteristic is the seat’s “exercise modes.” Passengers can choose from “film,” “work,” “loosen up,” “dine” and “sleep” modes, and on the contact of a button, the suite with regulate the seat place and lighting to go well with that exercise. Moreover, a information on the inflight leisure display screen will advise passengers which bathrooms are occupied and that are free to be used.
The seats additionally characteristic common energy plugs and each USB-A and USB-C charging ports for private gadgets, in addition to wi-fi charging pads so you will not should detangle a Gordian knot of cords once you board or deplane. Passengers can reap the benefits of free Wi-Fi, too.
The seat’s bifold tray desk slides out from below the leisure system and has a tool holder for tablets built-in into its design.
The tray desk additionally has a singular characteristic permitting it to be positioned simply at any top in its vary by pulling or pushing it into place.
As you may count on, every seat reclines to a completely lie-flat mattress, and passengers can count on the identical delicate facilities at present out there in Cathay Pacific enterprise class, together with premium bedding, Bamford amenity kits and menus created in partnership with well-known Hong Kong eating places.
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Remember to solid your eye towards the very entrance of the cabin, the place every airplane outfitted with Aria Suites will show a singular piece of artwork impressed by Hong Kong’s cityscapes and pure environment. The piece shall be created by artists with a connection to the vacation spot as a part of the airline’s self-described “gallery within the skies.”
Which planes could have Cathay Pacific Aria Suites?
Cathay Pacific will set up Aria Suites aboard its fleet of 30 Boeing 777-300ERs at a charge of about one airplane per 30 days, that means the whole retrofit must be full by the top of 2027.
The airline is eradicating top quality from these jets, although it has disclosed plans to put in an all-new first-class product on its forthcoming fleet of Boeing 777-9s, which the airline has ordered 21 of and expects to take supply of beginning someday in 2026 (pending any delays from the jet producer). The Boeing 777-9s can even have Aria Suite business-class cabins on board.
Need to know if a particular flight has the brand new Aria Suites aboard? Your first clue shall be if the Boeing 777 has a first-class cabin or not. If it does, it has not but been retrofitted.
In case your flight is on a three-cabin (enterprise, premium economic system and economic system) Cathay Pacific Boeing 777, the subsequent factor it’s important to have a look at is seat depend. The airline’s present three-class Boeing 777s have 368 seats: 40 in enterprise class, 32 in premium economic system and 296 in economic system.
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NICKY KELVIN/THE POINTS GUY
Boeing 777-300ERs with the brand new Aria Suite could have 45 business-class seats, 48 premium economic system seats and 268 economic system seats. So, the planes are gaining 5 seats in enterprise class and 16 seats in premium economic system (which can even be an up to date product previewed for us in April) however are shedding 28 economic system seats. The economic system seats are additionally a refreshed model of the present product.
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The business-class cabin on reconfigured planes shall be cut up into two sections. The primary, on the entrance of the airplane, could have six rows of 4 seats every, plus a single facet seat within the final row. The smaller part, which shall be behind an space with the galley and a bathroom, could have 5 rows of 4 seats every. The entire business-class cabin could have a complete of three bathrooms: two on the entrance close to the cockpit and one between the 2 sections of enterprise class.
If unsure, verify your flight’s seat map towards the seat configuration displayed on Cathay Pacific’s web site. The Boeing 777-300ERs with Aria Suites aboard shall be denoted at 77J.
Which routes will characteristic Cathay Pacific Aria Suites?
We don’t but know precisely which routes will characteristic Aria Suites in the long run, however it’s anticipated that when the airline has taken supply of three retrofitted jets by January, it’ll start flying long-haul routes.
For now, the primary Cathay Pacific jet to sport them shall be working every day flights between HKG and Beijing Capital Worldwide Airport (PEK) from Oct. 18-31. Particularly, the jet will fly the next frequencies:
- Cathay Pacific flight CX 332: will depart Hong Kong at midday and arrive in Beijing at 3:30 p.m. native time
- Cathay Pacific flight CX 331: will depart Beijing at 4:50 p.m. and arrive in Hong Kong at 8:35 p.m. native time
These flights are topic to vary, although, so all the time double-check your seat configuration forward of departure in case there are any last-minute gear swaps.
On the time of publication, business-class seats gave the impression to be offered out in each instructions on most days, however that might be for plenty of causes. In the event you do intend to be within the area and might take one in all these flights (bear in mind to verify visa necessities!), you might need higher luck reserving shut in.
How you can ebook Cathay Pacific Aria Suites
As a result of restricted variety of planes more likely to have Aria Suites within the close to future and the single-jet-per-month rollout time-frame, it is unlikely that we are going to see Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ERs with the brand new suites on board flying to the U.S. frequently anytime quickly. That may not matter an excessive amount of, although, since Cathay Pacific business-class awards have been almost unimaginable to ebook utilizing American Airways AAdvantage or Alaska Airways Mileage Plan miles in recent times.
Hopefully, that can change, and if it does, at present mileage costs, you will want 110,000 American miles or 75,000 to 85,000 Alaska miles from the airline’s locations within the U.S., together with Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS), Chicago’s O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD), Dallas Fort Price Worldwide Airport (DFW) beginning in April 2025, Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX), New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) and San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO).
Within the meantime, your finest wager for reserving award flights on the provider is perhaps to redeem miles from Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program. Asia Miles is a switch associate of American Categorical Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards. Tickets between Hong Kong and the airline’s varied U.S. gateways will vary from 84,000 to 110,000 Asia Miles one-way in enterprise class.
