Cathay to launch next-gen economy seat

While Cathay Pacific’s new Airbus A330 Aria Studio business class beds are getting all the attention, there’s also good news for the legion of economy travellers shuttling around Asia on the regional brushwing jets.

Cathay is rolling out a brand new economy seat – its first in almost a decade, harking back to the Boeing 777 refresh of 2018 (given the more recently-arrived A321neo was designed for the now-defunct Cathay Dragon).

“Our ambition is to be the world’s best premium airline,” says Guillaume Vivet, Cathay’s General Manager of Customer Experience Design – but this noble goal “goes far beyond just premium cabins.”

Your first look at Cathay's new A330 Aria Studio regional business class.

So behind those impressive Aria Studio business class beds, passengers will see a fresh take on economy.

“All the features that we’ve introduced over the years in economy class, we have packaged that into this new seat,” Vivet tells Executive Traveller.

That will include a larger, brighter 4K video screen running Cathay’s latest in-flight entertainment system, recognised as the world’s best by Skytrax.

Cathay's new A330 economy seat will inherit the high-tech features of its A321neo sibling.

Will it offer Bluetooth audio streaming, so that passengers can use their own noise-cancelling headphones or earbuds?

“Of course!” Vivet grins. Ditto for high-power USB-C sockets so that travellers can charge up their phones, tablets and even laptops en route.

Vivet also reflects on the industry’s advances in “ergonomics, seat comfort, cushions, materials, space – we’ve embedded all of these into this new product.”

Expect the same smile, but much bigger and brighter seatback screens.

Streamlining the A330 fleet

Cathay’s new economy seat will debut alongside the Aria Studio business class at the end of this year, as the airline begins an extensive upgrade of its regional A330 fleet.

Vivet says the refurbishment program will be “a nose-to-tail retrofit… we’re going to touch everything on the aircraft, including lavatories”, although the A330s won’t gain the convenient “bathroom availability” screen of the Boeing 777s.

Sadly, the refurbished A330s won't be getting this handy IFE screen to show washroom locations and availability.

The end goal is to streamline the regional A330 fleet into a single configuration, compared to today’s three variants.

“The A330 fleet today is a bit complex, we have a lot of different configurations,” Vivet reflects. “Eventually we’ll get to just one configuration, completely retrofitted with the new experience.”

But not every regional A330 will receive this Cinderella-like transformation.

In the medium term, Cathay will still fly those A330s which have received a light-touch refresh of the 2-2-2 business class cabin including new seat coverings and USB-C outlets.

“The older A330s which have not been refreshed will be retired,” Vivet explains.

“The mid-life ones that have got the refresh (will stay around longer), and the ones that are staying with us for the longer term are going to be retrofitted.”

Also read: More legroom in Cathay’s A321neo economy revamp

David Flynn travelled to Hong Kong as a guest of Cathay Pacific