Travel Daily Flight Review – Cathay Pacific Airways’ new Business Class
Review date – 01 April 2011
Route – Hong Kong to Sydney
Flight – CX101
Passenger – Guy Dundas
Late last year Cathay Pacific Airways announced details of its impending launch of a brand new international Business Class product amid much fan-fare in Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific’s new chief executive officer, John Slosar, classed the product as a “world beater”.
The HK$1 billion upgrade aims to position Cathay Pacific side by side, in terms of premium product offering, to rival carriers including Emirates and Singapore Airlines, Slosar said.
At the ‘Light up the Sky’ launch party, a mock-up version of the product was on display for VIPs to trial first-hand. It ws met with high praise due to its open design and living space, 1-2-1 configuration, direct window views, and new wider and longer flat-bed seats.
The enhanced Business product is being installed across 56 of Cathay Pacific’s Airbus A330-300s and Boeing 777-300ERs aircraft first, before being retro-fitted to its existing fleet (over the next two years). The new international A330-300s (dubbed 33E) have a two class cabin, with 223 seats in Economy Class.
For its debut appearance in December, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to trial Cathay Pacific’s existing Business Class, up and back to Hong Kong for the revealing.
This month, I was lucky to have been provided with the opportunity to trial the brand new Business Class product in situ, which debuted on the Hong Kong-Sydney route just last month.
Photo – the current ‘Olympus’ Business Class seat
The first major point of difference between the older cocoon styled seat (dubbed ‘Olympus’ seats) and this fresh new version that I noticed was its openess. Gone are the vestibule like booths with their high side walls, which, to their advantage, seem to offer a considerable amount of privacy.
The new A330-300 J Class cabin, which at the moment only services the daily overnight flight to Sydney (as CX 101 and returns to Hong Kong as CX 100), is bright, spacious and I’d say, more welcoming.
My seat, 18G, is located in the centre of the aircraft. The herringbone design offers direct aisle access (along with every other seat in Business Class) and it’s located in the last row of the front Business Class cabin. There are an additional three rows in the second Business Class cabin, which are separated from the front section by a galley and bathroom. The front section has seven rows and a total of 28 seats, while the back section has 11 seats, so a combined total of 39 seats at the pointy end.
Photos (left) the brand new Cathay Pacific A330-300 Business Class deck plan vs the existing Cathay Pacific A330-300 (right).
In comparison the Olympus version has 10 rows of three seats, configured 1-1-1. Up front are 30 seats and there are four rows in the back (11 seats) – a total of 41 seats, which do tend to feel packed in. The new cabin design has resulted in two less Business seats.
Both Business Class cabins feature two bathrooms at the front and one in the centre.
Before being seated I instantly see that the seat is noticeably wider than the previous model. It lacks the vestibule-like walls of Olympus, giving an obvious sense of freedom and space. It’s much lighter and brighter. All seats are angled at a much lesser angle, including outboard seats which face towards the window. The Olympus version’s outboard seats point towards the middle of the aircraft, making looking out the window near impossible.
The cabin features some unique original artworks on the bulkheads designed by Hong Kong artist Maria Lobo, and are incorporated to “create a warm, premium residential feel”, according to Cathay Pacific.
Photo – the art work on the front Bulk Head (left) and the art work on the back bulk head (right) of the front section of Business Class.
The new seat has been designed as “a place to sleep, dine, work, relax, watch TV and to just relax”, and does it deliver.
The seat features a richly woven fabric in a blend of green, brown and champagne. The wing-backed design is sturdy and when I’m seated it provides privacy from the passenger sitting adjacent to me in the window seat.
If I lean forward I can establish eye-contact with the person seated in the seat across the aisle. If the person in the centre seat beside me was to lean forward we could chat, but in the regular position, personal storage cabinets block visual contact. For the advantage of people traveling together, the centre seats can be adjusted forward as much as 11 inches.
RIGHT – this stock photo shows how people in the centre seats can chat.
It doesn’t take long to get comfortable once seated. The seat offers plenty of legroom, and width, to stretch out. There’s a permanent padded ottoman which, with me at nearly 6 foot tall, is nearly beyond my reach when sitting upright. It also acts another storage space. In front of the footrest is another slightly raised platform. A small wall beside the footrest separates my feet from the passenger adjacent to me.
BELOW – the ottoman/storage area
A personal shoe locker is located aisle-side on my right under my arm-rest. A coat hook is mounted to the rear of the seat in front of me, near my aisle access, below which is a pocket with the in-flight magazine, safety card and other reading material.
RIGHT – the shoe locker easily stows a pair of shoes or even boots.
Facing forward I can view the Personal TV screen of the passenger opposite me, and he mine. (Once in the air, I can release my 15.4 inch TV unit from its wall mounting and angle it to face me.) In the centre wall, there’s a fresh cut orchid on display.
From my seat I stash my wallet, Passport, iPhone, glasses case and headphones in the handy storage cabinet. Also inside is a pair of noise reducing headphones hanging on a mount, held in place by a simple faster. The adaptor for the headphones is stashed within the cabinet. The door of the cabinet swings open away from me, towards the person sitting opposite me. Inside the door is a concealed vanity mirror. (For take-off and landing the door must be closed, but during the flight it can be left open to act as a privacy divider). The cabinet has a simple locking mechanism to open and close it, by pushing on the door. The locker is designed to be big enough to hold medium sized ladies hand-bags.
LEFT – the storage locker, with its noise cancelling headphones and vanity mirror.
I’ve also got my own cocktail table, which is great for resting a laptop, iPad, hand-held gaming device or other electrical gadgets on. The cocktail table is also designed to allow travelling companions to converse or share a beverage once their seats are positioned forward.
RIGHT – Cocktail table
My bi-fold main table (pictured below left) stows beneath the cocktail table.
Lower down, underneath the table, is another storage compartment with its own light that easily holds a laptop, iPad, newspaper, magazine and other items. There’s a net bag built into it too, that’s been designed to hold a bottle of water and prevents it shifting about in flight.
RIGHT – additional storage with bottle holder
Beside the side cabinet, and also on my left, is my control deck. Here Cathay Pacific has strategically placed all the controls for me to customize my level of comfort while flying, from one spot.
LEFT – side cabinet with control panel all centralised
The stylish seat control positioning unit has been based on European luxury car companies, with chunky levers designed to slide back and forward, to either recline the seat-back or the leg-rest, or to slide the entire seat forward and back. There’s also buttons for two pre-set positions – upright and bed – to speed up positioning, and there’s an overhead light switch as a third button.
RIGHT – seat positioning and overhead light controls
Beneath the seat controls are a universal power board, which takes a variety of international power adaptors, including two pronged Australian adaptors. Beside this is an AV input, a special nine pin iPod adaptor, and a USB point. The USB port even allows iPhone/iPad/Blackberrys to be recharged while in flight.
LEFT – Universal power source, AV input, USB port and iPod port.
Above the seat control unit is a reading spot light, which can be angled as desired. It has three brightness settings. Beside this is the phone handset/IFE controller.
RIGHT – personal reading light and IFE controller/phone (note the gap in the side cabinet door allows for the headphone lead to pass through when the door is shut.)
The new design eclipses the current product in seat position and comfort, but that’s not to say the existing design has faults. The positioning of the seat is far superior. I’ve found that when I prop my feet up on the ottoman in the Olympus Business Class seat design, one of my legs almost feels like it is almost twisting, due to the small surface area allocated to place your feet. The angle of the new seats (facing the centre in the middle seats, or towards the window on the flanks) is less intrusive. When seated in the Olympus Business design it feels as though other passengers are looking at you when boarding.
As for the technical details, here’s Cathay Pacific’s seat dimension break down between the old and new Business seats.
Current Business Class | The New Business Class |
A330 | Current Business Class | The New Business Class |
Bed length (Tip- to – tip) |
81” | 82” |
Usable bed length | 71” | 75” |
Usable bed width | 23.5” | 26.4” (with bed extension) 27.6” (with armrest retracted) |
In-seat width | 18.5” | 20.2” |
So, how does the bed rate? At 4 inches longer in “usable bed length” and 3 to 4 inches wider than the Olympus model, the difference is definitely noticeable. As a side sleeper, I’ve found I could only get comfortable facing the front of the aircraft in the Olympus design. With the new design, I could sleep on either side. The nifty Bed Extension (pictured above, top right image) on the new seat pops out the side towards the aisle, as if from nowhere, in the final stages of converting to the lie-flat bed. It adds another 6 or so inches to the bed width, further enhancing room and comfort.
If you need or want even more space, the armrest sinks into the seat frame, adding another inch on a level plane (left).
The side storage compartment (the one that houses the water bottle carrier) also comes into play when lying on one’s side, as it’s been created to allow passengers to tuck their knees into for further comfort (right).
Cathay Pacific says the seat’s wing-back is also strong enough to support passenger resting weight, should they decide to prop themselves against it when the seat is in the lie-flat position, meaning more seat versatility.
The new range of duvets, pillows and cushions in Business Class add to the luxury and comfort of the product.
For me, the openness of the seat is the biggest change. Gone is the narrow, confined feeling of the older seat style, which for the most part is not much more than 23 inches. There’s plenty of shoulder room.
From the fully flat bed position on the new seat, the lack of walls means it’s far easier to access the aisle.
Some other observations I made: people flying together in the older cabin were either positioned one in front of the other, or adjacent across the aisle. Either scenario required one person to stand or kneel on their seat, propping themselves against the walls to chat. The new model is companion travel friendly due to its centre seat configuration.
I slept soundly for four hours of the 8.5 hour flight, which for someone who normally struggles to get any sleep whatsoever on a flight was very satisfying. The rest of the time I occupied myself with the inflight entertainment, Studio CX, which is still to be upgraded.
New service-wear has also been adopted throughout the cabin, including stemless wine glasses, which according to the airline ‘allow wine to breathe more easily’. CX’s characteristic “pebble” salt and pepper shakers have been retained.
At the end of the flight I took the opportunity to chat with a few passengers to gauge their reaction to the new product. Their comments replicated Cathay Pacific’s intention for the upgrade. Both passengers I spoke to were travelling together and seated in outboard seats in rows 17 and 18. It was the first time they had flown on the new A330, but had experienced the previous Olympus Business seats flying to Hong Kong. They said the seat had “more space and felt a lot more open” and “definitely more comfortable; by far, a better design”.
Cathay Pacific’s new international A330-300s are planned to be deployed progressively across Australia and other parts of the world already serviced by the aircraft type. Flight CX161/162 to Sydney is earmarked as the next daily service to gain the product ina few months time.
The Hong Kong based carrier will also deploy its new 777 featuring the same Business Class product on flights to Los Angeles and New York from June.
To see the product in action see Travel Daily TV’s exclusive video taken on the inaugural turnaround of the new aircraft in Sydney by clicking this link: http://www.youtube.com/TravelDaily#p/f/29/xiMIKtcZgl
To learn more about the product see http://www.cathaypacific.aero/newbusinessclass/high/en.html.