Cathay Pacific launches major product upgrade

Cathay Pacific (One World) has announced a significant upgrade of all three classes as of next year. As an airline that pretty much deserves its five star Skytrax ranking, it is excellent news that it is now moving to be ahead of the game once more with new seats that, at the very least, put it on a par with the best available today.

In First Class (pictured) it is taking a step beyond all other airlines. More space, with a private closet, 17" screen with AVOD. With a longer wider lie flat bed seat, there is a separate side seat so passengers can choose to be seated or lie in a bed. Cathay has always been rated as having one of the best first classes and will be maintaining that status with this new product.

In Business Class, Cathay Pacific, after only introducing angled lie flat seats four years ago has made the jump to horizontal lie flat beds - similar to Air New Zealand. With BA, Virgin Atlantic, South African Airways, Air NZ, Iberia, LAN Chile and now Cathay going horizontal, it is clear that this IS the new standard. Cathay has essentially bought seats similar to Air NZ's new Business Premier class, except unlike Air NZ/Virgin Atlantic the seat does NOT flip over for a mattress side, but reclines fully flat with one surface. With Air NZ and Virgin Atlantic having similar seats between London and Hong Kong, and BA with its own fully lie flat product, the differences between seating for the airlines are small - it will be more about service. In addition, a 15" monitor has been installed with full AVOD.

Economy Class does not go untouched, in fact Cathay can be said to have led the way now with its new economy class seats. It needs it, it only gets a 3 star ranking with Skytrax overall in economy mainly because of the seating and catering. The seats recline within a shell, so you no longer have economy class seats reclining back into the row behind. This means more room and no complaints when you do recline. The seat pocket is now below the seat so there is a bit more room. In essence Cathay has taken a seat which does the most with the limited space in economy. I'd like to know if Cathay still uses the 32" seat pitch, which frankly is only a suitable standard for regional international routes, not long haul. Nevertheless, this is a step forward that is world leading, with a 9" monitor and AVOD - this gives Cathay one of the best economy class seats in the world. The only question is whether with the seat bottom sliding forward during recline that this costs you legroom (although removal of the seat pocket partly compensates). It will be interesting to see what passengers think.

All of this puts Cathay Pacific undoubtedly at the top of OneWorld alliance in terms of quality, and gives something for BA and Qantas especially to aspire to (Qantas in particular is lacklustre in economy and first class).