Cathay Pacific will be making changes to the layout of its Airbus A321neos, to make the plane more comfortable for both passengers and crew, as reported by Executive Traveller. That’s a pretty rare thing in the industry nowadays, eh?
Cathay Pacific plans Airbus A321neo cabin changes
Cathay Pacific has a total of (at least) 30 Airbus A321neo aircraft on order, with roughly half of those planes having already been delivered. This is the Hong Kong-based carrier’s only narrow body plane, and the backstory is quite interesting.
These planes were first ordered for Cathay Pacific regional subsidiary Cathay Dragon, but Cathay Pacific decided to merge Cathay Dragon into the mainline fleet several years back, and in the process, these narrow body planes also joined Cathay Pacific’s fleet. Since then, the airline has even expanded its order, recognizing the value these planes bring to the fleet.
While Cathay Pacific has very high service standards across the board, these planes definitely aren’t the most comfortable in the fleet, as you’d expect. The planes have a total of 202 seats, including 12 recliner business class seats and 190 economy class seats.
With that in mind, Cathay Pacific has committed to introducing a new layout on these planes in the near future, centered around a few improvements:
- Cathay Pacific wants to increase seat pitch in economy, so the airline will be removing some seats in order to improve legroom; economy seat pitch on these planes is currently 30″, which compares unfavorably to the rest of the fleet
- Cathay Pacific plans to move a couple of the rear lavatories forward of the rear doors, in order to make them more spacious; currently the A321neos have a couple of those super tight lavatories that have become pretty standard on A320-family aircraft
- Cathay Pacific plans to increase rear galley space, to make it easier for the crews to work; presumably this is made possible by moving the lavatories forward
The airline hasn’t yet clarified how many economy seats will be removed. Unfortunately the airline also doesn’t have plans to introduce new business class seats, even as rivals increasingly introduce flat beds on some regional narrow body aircraft (China Airlines, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, etc.).
The timeline with which Cathay Pacific plans changes
When can we expect Cathay Pacific’s new Airbus A321neo layout? The plan is that the 17th of these jets to be delivered will join the fleet in the second quarter of 2026, sporting new cabins. The remaining A321neos to be delivered will also all come with these cabins installed.
On top of that, in the second half of 2026, the airline plans to retrofit its 16 existing A321neos, as fleet consistency is a priority. That project is expected to be carried out pretty quickly, so it could be that this entire project is done by the end of 2026.
Bottom line
It’s incredibly rare to see an airline remove seats from a plane in order to improve comfort, but that’s exactly what Cathay Pacific is doing on its narrow body aircraft. This year we should see some changes to Cathay Pacific’s A321neo fleet, including an increase to seat pitch in economy, more spacious lavatories in the back of the plane, and more galley space.
It remains to be seen exactly how many seats the airline will sacrifice with this project, but either way, it’s a mighty customer friendly move for an airline to make, and not something we often see.
What do you make of Cathay Pacific’s A321neo plans?
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