Cathay Pacific unveils swanky new ‘Aria Suite’ enterprise class

Cathay Pacific took the wraps off its latest business-class seat at this time, 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. Properly, it appears like the primary aircraft with the brand new suites is nearly able to take flight later this week — and TPG bought a sneak peek on the airline’s occasion.

This is what we noticed on the Cathay Pacific occasion and what it’s essential 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 big evolution than an entire 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 middle part are angled towards each other, in order that they could be 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 fashionable function of next-generation business-class seats, although that is the primary time Cathay Pacific has provided them.

Not like 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 will probably be uniform all through.

Aria Suites are adorned with a extra impartial coloration palette of taupe, cream, sand and brown tones quite than the airline’s signature inexperienced, creating a relaxing surroundings on board.

In addition they incorporate quite a lot of floor and stowage areas, together with a large, woodgrain and marbleized armrest to at least one aspect of the seat with a prime 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 beneath 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 might be 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 decisions with journey companions due to new system performance.

One significantly fascinating new function is the seat’s “exercise modes.” Passengers can choose from “film,” “work,” “chill out,” “dine” and “sleep” modes, and on the contact of a button, the suite with alter the seat place and lighting to swimsuit 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 function common energy plugs and each USB-A and USB-C charging ports for private units, in addition to wi-fi charging pads so you will not need to detangle a Gordian knot of cords if you board or deplane. Passengers can reap the benefits of free Wi-Fi, too.

The seat’s bifold tray desk slides out from beneath the leisure system and has a tool holder for tablets built-in into its design.

The tray desk additionally has a singular function permitting it to be positioned simply at any peak in its vary by pulling or pushing it into place.

As you may anticipate, every seat reclines to a totally lie-flat mattress, and passengers can anticipate the identical comfortable facilities presently accessible in Cathay Pacific enterprise class, together with premium bedding, Bamford amenity kits and menus created in partnership with well-known Hong Kong eating places.

Do not forget to forged your eye towards the very entrance of the cabin, the place every aircraft outfitted with Aria Suites will show a singular piece of artwork impressed by Hong Kong’s cityscapes and pure environment. The piece will probably 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 may have Cathay Pacific Aria Suites?

Cathay Pacific will set up Aria Suites aboard its fleet of 30 Boeing 777-300ERs at a price of about one aircraft per thirty days, that means the complete retrofit must be full by the tip of 2027.

The airline is eradicating first-class 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 will even have Aria Suite business-class cabins on board.

Wish to know if a selected flight has the brand new Aria Suites aboard? Your first clue will probably 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 you need to take 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.

Boeing 777-300ERs with the brand new Aria Suite may 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 will even be an up to date product previewed for us in April) however are dropping 28 economic system seats. The economic system seats are additionally a refreshed model of the present product.

The business-class cabin on reconfigured planes will probably be cut up into two sections. The primary, on the entrance of the aircraft, may have six rows of 4 seats every, plus a single aspect seat within the final row. The smaller part, which will probably be behind an space with the galley and a rest room, may have 5 rows of 4 seats every. The entire business-class cabin may 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 in opposition to the seat configuration displayed on Cathay Pacific’s web site. The Boeing 777-300ERs with Aria Suites aboard will probably be denoted at 77J.

Which routes will function Cathay Pacific Aria Suites?

We don’t but know precisely which routes will function Aria Suites in the long run, however it’s anticipated that when the airline has taken supply of three retrofitted jets by January, it is going to start flying long-haul routes.

For now, the primary Cathay Pacific jet to sport them will probably 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 alter, 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 bought out in each instructions on most days, however that could possibly be for a variety of causes. In the event you do intend to be within the area and may take certainly one of these flights (keep in mind to verify visa necessities!), you may need higher luck reserving shut in.

How one can e book 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’ll see Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ERs with the brand new suites on board flying to the U.S. frequently anytime quickly. Which may not matter an excessive amount of, although, since Cathay Pacific business-class awards have been almost unattainable to e book utilizing American Airways AAdvantage or Alaska Airways Mileage Plan miles in recent times.

Hopefully, that may 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 Value 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 guess for reserving award flights on the provider could be to redeem miles from Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program. Asia Miles is a switch associate of American Specific Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles and Citi ThankYou Rewards. Tickets between Hong Kong and the airline’s numerous U.S. gateways will vary from 84,000 to 110,000 Asia Miles one-way in enterprise class.