Cathay Pacific finally reveals its new Aria Suite business class – and we were there

It’s been a long time coming but Cathay Pacific has finally lifted the lid on its much-teased new Aria business class seat for the Boeing 777 fleet.

Originally due to fly in Q2, the new cabin has finally taken wing and will operate commercial services from tomorrow.

First announced in August 2023, Aria Suite was revealed in March via a teaser video. Details, however, were few and far between, with Cathay Pacific refusing to confirm speculation about the seat manufacturer or even basic specs.

Instead, Cathay waited until its first fully refurbished aircraft – B-KPO – was good to go. It invited us on board for an exclusive hangar tour at Hong Kong International Airport on Wednesday night to see the new Aria cabin in full.

A closer look at Aria

The Aria Suite, together with a new premium economy seat unveiled in April, will be installed on 30 of Cathay’s Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, the backbone of its long haul fleet.

Cathay Pacific has designated the Aria variant as the 77J. In total, the 77J has 361 seats: 45 in business class, 48 in premium economy and 268 in economy.

Whilst business class is broadly the same, there is a big 50% bump to the premium economy cabin.

Let’s start with the basics. The bottom line is that this is (to use an overused phrase) “evolution and not revolution”.

Cathay Pacific is not going head-to-head with Qatar Airways here to install some Qsuite-challenger.

Rather, Aria Suite is a reimagining of its existing 777 and A350 seat. It takes what passengers love – the reverse herringbone layout – and steps it up a gear, integrating the latest tech and even introducing some innovative (but unheralded) features.

“Since 2011 our long haul business classes have always been reverse herringbone, 1-2-1. And we feel that actually, our customers love that because it has very equitable distribution of space. When you are in a window seat, you always have a window. And all the middle seats are also offering a very similar level of experience”

…. says Vivian Lo, General Manager for Customer Experience and Design.

So what’s staying the same? For a start, the much-loved 1-2-1 layout and broad functionality. Window seats still face the windows for privacy, and the seat converts into a familiar spacious fully flat bed.

What’s new? You now have a spectacular fixed 24″ 4K monitor from Panasonic. This replaces the pull-out monitor on existing aircraft:

Also new is the suite door for additional privacy (or, as actress Fala Chen put it, “shutting in the kids”!)

Some of my favourite features in the Aria Suite are things you might not immediately notice, but are functional improvements.

This includes the sturdy bifold tray table, which you can now place in any position you like. This means you can use it to dine, to work or even as a cocktail table or to rest your iPad on, unlocking flexibility.

Another cool feature is the adjustable aisle-side armrest, which now sits flat or can be pulled up and forward, with the ability to position it ‘just so’. You can bring it fully forward to create an even bigger bed surface.

Finally, there are three in-seat storage units including a classic side cabinet, larger side stowage and my favourite of all: the sliding console tray.

This is the perfect spot for valuables such as glasses or a phone, and the sliding mechanism means you don’t have to remove anything off the top to open it – simply slide it forward to access. This is a big step-up from other pop-up console storage.

Of course there are other tech improvements including Bluetooth headphone pairing, wireless charging and multiple charging ports including a USB-C port.

Whilst the teaser video bathed the seat in a golden, honeyed light, the reality is much closer to the existing colour palette than I expected.

It uses both dark and light greys as well as the iconic ‘Cathay Jade’ colour in a number of high-end finishes including woollen seating, leather armrests and ‘ultrasuede’ sound-dampening surrounds. Fortunately, both the overhead cabin lights and in-suite mood lighting help to add warmth.

Speaking of mood lighting, Aria Suite gives you full control and you can dim all lights to your heart’s content. That includes the ‘halo’ light around the top of the seat shell as well as your personal lamp and lights in various other places, including the footwell.

To make things easier, Cathay Pacific has created a number of lighting scenarios to match your mood, from Work to Movie to Relax to Sleep. Each one can be customised to your exact preferences.

Other high-tech features include a lavatory availability screen, showing you exactly which toilets are available and where they are situated in the cabin.

Other tidbits include:

• Brand new lavatories in all classes with contactless features. In business class, the lavatory features a classy travertine stone effect
• Upgraded forward and downward aircraft cameras, which now offer HD views from the aircraft
• Upgraded galleys with stylish new finishes including the ‘Gallery in the Sky’ concept featuring specially comissioned art unique to every plane
• New, envelope-shaped amenity kits in business class specifically for Aria-equipped aircraft
• Cathay is working on a tweaked livery that will update the Cathay Pacific fuselage title slightly

Who is behind the new seat?

Cathay Pacific is being very coy about who it has partnered with to manufacture Aria Suite. In a conversation with Vivian Lo, who has been heading up this project for six years, I managed to tease out some more information.

She confirmed that the seat is made by Collins Aerospace, a popular manufacturer and the same company that produces BA’s Club Suites. However, she would not be led on the exact model Aria Suite is based on.

“When we started the project, we didn’t start with seat supplier in mind. We worked with our design company, JPA, to start from an almost blank canvas about what the experience that Cathay would want. From there, when we are clear about what we want to design and deliver, we looked at the market and looked at what the good platforms that you can start with are.”

“But when you get on board, you will actually realise that almost every aspect that you can touch has an element of customisation.”

Based on my own experience of the seat and various conversations I’ve had, I can fairly confidently say that it is based on the Collins Elements seat – their latest generation reverse herringbone seat which has evolved from seats such as BA’s Club Suite and Qatar’s A380 Super Diamond seat.

Vivian told me there a number of customisations you’ll only see at Cathay:

“The shell is something unique to us. The halo lighting, as well as the shell design, is extremely important, because this is how you provide real personal space where you really need it. So the shell is special for us. The lighting, the signature lighting, is also unique to us. It looks beautiful. But on top of that, it has three directional lighting, so actually the same light can give you lighting for food, for watching movies, for just lounging.”

“So there’s a lot of small things that seem to be subtle, but actually would be quite important that you experience that as unique to Cathay.”

London should be the first long haul route for Aria Suite

Like most airlines, Cathay Pacific will launch the new product on short haul routes first to familiarise crew, before rolling it out on its intended long haul routes.

From tomorrow, Friday 18th October, the newly refurbished aircraft will operate on flights to Beijing Capital Airport:

• CX332 departing Hong Kong at midday and arriving in Beijing at 15:30
• CX331 departing Beijing at 16:50 and arriving in Hong Kong at 20:35

Following a trial period it will then graduate to long haul routes. This will happen once there are enough aircraft refurbished to operate daily, which I’m told requires at least three. The current target for refurbishments is about one per month.

Based on what I’ve heard, London will almost certainly be the first long haul destination to enjoy the new Aria Suite:

“We are planning to go for long haul around January next year. At the moment, we’re thinking about Europe first, then after we’ll be going to Southwest Pacific, North America,” says Vivian Lo.

Cathay Pacific CEO Ronald Lam confirmed that London will come “hopefully next year. Among our long haul destinations, Heathrow has the most frequencies, five times a day, so it will be a prime candidate to get one of the daily flights.”

That’s good news for London flyers and something to look forward to during the miserable post-Christmas period!

Update: as predicted, London was the first long haul destination to get the new business class suite. You can read our review of Aria Suite from London to Hong Kong here.