Cathay’s new A321neo economy seats: more legroom, bigger screens

Cathay Pacific is taking a rare but welcome step for any airline: ripping out a row of economy seats on its regional Airbus A321neo jets to free up more legroom for passengers.

Larger toilets are also replacing the tight confines of the current lavatories, in a move intended to address two common “pain points” of travellers.

The first of the revamped planes will begin flying in the coming weeks, with the changes eventually sweeping across the entire A321neo fleet.

The Airbus A321neo is Cathay's regional single-aisle workhorse.

Losing seats to add legroom

Guillaume Vivet, Cathay’s General Manager of Customer Experience Design, has told Executive Traveller that removing seats they could otherwise sell to passengers “is a hard decision to make.”

“But it’s the right thing to do for us, and I think only a few airlines in the world would make that decision.”

Cathay's new A321neo economy seats.

The revised A321neo layout drops the number of economy seats from 190 to 183 and increases the current pitch – an industry measure of the distance between each row of seats – from a too-tight 30 inches to at least 31 inches.

That extra legroom – or, in more practical terms, knee room – will help Cathay level up against regional rivals such as Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, along with Taiwan’s China Airlines, EVA Air and Starlux.

The standard 30" legroom in Cathay Pacific's A321neo economy class.

Larger lavs and a more service-friendly galley

The revised A321neo floorplan also reshapes “the back of the aircraft,” Vivet explained, where washrooms previously shared the same zone as the kitchen galley.

“We’re moving lavatories out of the galley complex, to forward of the aft doors, instead of being part of the galley” to create a dedicated service area.

Cathay's new A321neo toilet & galley layout (left) compared to the original (right).

Vivet said this “change of orientation” would allow for larger toilets than the original cramped cubicles, and at the same time be the springboard for an upgraded economy meal service.

“We’re also elevating the dining proposition to offer more to our customers, so we’ve also listened to our cabin crew (who want to) deliver the best service on the A321neo.”

Cathay is moving to a revamped A321neo layout.

Behind the A321neo revamp

Cathay only began flying the A321neo in August 2021, and changes of this magnitude are unheard of for a jet that’s barely five years old.

However, these planes were never intended for Cathay Pacific: they were ordered for its regional sibling Cathay Dragon, which was shut down in October 2020 as part of a massive pandemic restructuring.

This saw Cathay Pacific inherit the first 16 of 32 planes in their pre-determined Cathay Dragon cabin configuration.

Cathay Dragon was supposed to fly the A321neo jets, until the pandemic happened...

But the 17th jet rolled off the Airbus assembly line in this new configuration, which will apply to all future deliveries – including Cathay’s share of a further 32 planes due through to the end of this decade.

“We’re (also) going to go back to our first 16 aircraft and do those changes as well,” Vivet said, “and we’re going to go very fast, to get it out to our customers and improve that experience as fast as we can.”

Cathay’s new A321neo economy seat

The newly-delivered A321neo planes will debut a new economy seat – although at the pointy end, Cathay is sticking with the 12 regional business class recliners.

Cathay's A321neo business class.

This Recaro economy seat loses the tell-tale red drawn from Cathay Dragon colours, and instead favours a softer palette with highlights of ‘Cathay green’.

Inside Cathay's new-look A321neo economy cabin.

These seats also sport a larger 13.3-inch video screen – up from 11.6 inches – with the 4K panel now packing advanced HDR10+ technology to optimise brightness, contrast, and colour.

Bigger and brighter screens feature on Cathay's new A321neo economy seat.

“We love to lead the industry on IFE, so we keep pushing,” Vivet said.

Each economy seat also has two fast-charging USB-C power outlets.

The outcome, Vivet believes, will be “a consistent economy class experience whether you’re on the narrow-body or wide-body regional fleet, on the A321neo refit and the A330 refit.”

Cathay's lie-flat A330 Aria Studio regional business class.

As previously reported, that year-end A330 refit will not only see the launch of the Aria Studio regional business class flatbeds but also an all-new twin-aisle economy seat – the first in almost a decade.

That seat will combine the same IFE tech as the new A321neo jets, plus USB-C power and Bluetooth audio streaming.

Also read: Late 2027 launch for Cathay’s new first class?