Cathay Pacific will be making changes to the layout of its Airbus A321neos, to make the plane more comfortable for both passengers and crew, which is a pretty rare thing in the industry nowadays, eh? While we first learned that these changes were coming at the beginning of the year, we’ve now learned more about what all this will entail.
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, centered around a few improvements:
- Cathay Pacific will partially 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; this is made possible by moving the lavatories forward
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.).
What I actually find most noteworthy is how the emergency exit setup is changing. The planes go from having one set of mid-cabin exit rows and one set of rear exit rows, to having two sets of mid-cabin exit rows, which is definitely more efficient.
There’s also a general renumbering of rows, to more closely match row numbers you’d find on long haul aircraft. You wouldn’t expect to find a row 69 on a narrow body plane!
The timeline with which Cathay Pacific plans changes
When can we expect Cathay Pacific’s new Airbus A321neo layout? Cathay Pacific currently has 16 A321neos in its fleet, and plans to take delivery of its 17th shortly (in the coming weeks), and that should be the first plane with the new layout. The remaining A321neos to be delivered will also all come with these cabins installed.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
