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So back in 2024, Cathay Pacific launched Aria Suite. My understanding is that Cathay originally planned to launch these with the Boeing 777X, but after repeated delays, the airline decided to begin refurbishing its existing Boeing 777-300ERs.
It’s an all-new business class from Cathay Pacific, available only on select routes. As Cathay has now rolled out its regional variant, the Aria Studio, now is as good a time as ever to dig into the details.
Aria Suite
Hailed as Cathay’s latest and greatest business class, Aria Suite is in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration. There are privacy doors, 24″ 4K in-flight entertainment displays, Bluetooth audio, and wireless charging.
The seats look snazzy, and I look forward to trying it myself. It’s a highly customized version of the seat Starlux uses for their A350 business class, and that’s one of my favourite seats in the sky.
Cathay Pacific Aria Suite
Cathay is making good progress with its Boeing 777-300ER retrofit, as 18 of 30 aircraft now feature Aria Suite. The best way to check whether your whether your flight features Aria Suite is to check the seatmap. The Aria Suite configuration has 45 business class seats, rather than 40 in the old configuration.
Destinations Featuring Aria Suite
Cathay is also very good about keeping the Aria Suite destination list up to date, so the following is true for August 2026:
| Destination | Route direction | Flight number | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt (FRA) | HKG to FRA | CX289 | Daily |
| FRA to HKG | CX288 | ||
| London Heathrow (LHR) | HKG to LHR | CX255 | Daily |
| LHR to HKG | CX250 | ||
| HKG to LHR | CX253 | 2-31 August: Daily | |
| LHR to HKG | CX254 | ||
| Los Angeles (LAX) | HKG to LAX | CX884 | Daily |
| LAX to HKG | CX885 | ||
| Melbourne (MEL) | HKG to MEL | CX163 | Daily |
| MEL to HKG | CX178 | ||
| Milan (MXP) | HKG to MXP | CX233 | Daily |
| MXP to HKG | CX234 | ||
| San Francisco (SFO) | HKG to SFO | CX872 | Daily |
| SFO to HKG | CX873 | ||
| Sapporo (CTS) | HKG to CTS | CX580 | Daily |
| CTS to HKG | CX581 | ||
| HKG to CTS | CX582 | 1-24 August: Mon, Thu, Sat | |
| CTS to HKG | CX583 | ||
| Sydney (SYD) | HKG to SYD | CX181 | Daily |
| SYD to HKG | CX100 | ||
| HKG to SYD | CX139 | 1-22, 27-31 August: Daily | |
| SYD to HKG | CX138 | ||
| Tokyo Haneda (HND) | HKG to HND | CX548 | Daily |
| HND to HKG | CX549 | ||
| Vancouver (YVR) | HKG to YVR | CX888 | Daily |
| YVR to HKG | CX865 | ||
| HKG to YVR | CX810 | Daily | |
| YVR to HKG | CX867 |
Looking at the end of the calendar (so currently August 2027), Cathay is showing A350-900s on the Vancouver flights, which means either Cathay is planning to swap planes or, more likely, the schedule has yet to be finalized with the aircraft. It’s hard to imagine the Aria Suite being removed when Cathay is actively retrofitting more planes.
Booking Aria Suite on Points
Of the above, Vancouver is the most accessible destination for Canadians. Both daily nonstops currently feature Aria Suite, and the easiest way to book is with Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.It costs 91,000 Asia Miles one-way per person in business class for itineraries with a cumulative distance of up to 7,500 miles (based on observed pricing, since Cathay doesn’t publish the award chart). That means from Vancouver, you could continue to Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai, or even Bangkok, among others.
From Vancouver, fly Aria Suite to HKG, then continue further for the same price
If you’re on the East Coast, flying Cathay Pacific business class from Toronto will not only cost you 119,000 miles (28,000 more than Vancouver), but it’s not on Aria Suite. There is a silver lining, however: 119,000 miles is already in the highest/most expensive distance band, so flying any further costs the same.
Cathay flies to Tokyo, Sapporo, and Melbourne with Aria Suite and connecting onwards to any of these destinations costs the same 119,000 miles. For both maximizing and having enough time to enjoy the product, Melbourne is the most appealing. This is also one of the most reliable ways to book premium cabin tickets all the way Down Under.
If you’re just flying to Hong Kong, do note Finnair Avios offers the most attractive pricing at 85,000 Avios one-way in business class from any city in North America, but finding availability is the hard part with how stingy Cathay has been when it comes to releasing award space to partners.
Earning Asia Miles
You can earn Asia Miles with either Amex MR or RBC Avion, where the former transfers at a 1:0.75 ratio and the latter at a 1:1 ratio.
Fun fact: RBC is the only transfer partner in North America to retain a 1:1 transfer to Asia Miles. That makes RBC Avion particularly useful for Asia Miles collectors, and now is also a great time to pick up an RBC Avion Visa Infinite or RBC Avion Visa Infinite Privilege with all-time-high bonuses of 70,000 and 100,000 Avion points, respectively.
Aria Studio
The Aria Studio is Cathay’s regional variant of the Aria Suite and shares many similarities. It’s also a reverse herringbone product in a 1-2-1 configuration, but without doors.
Cathay Pacific Aria Studio
You’ll find Aria Studio on A330-300s beginning late 2026 and on A330-900neos, set to arrive in 2028. There are no plans to retrofit other aircraft. Cathay currently uses its A330-300 fleet for both regional and long-haul flights, and it’s unclear whether every existing A330-300 will receive Aria Studio, or only those deployed regionally.
Cathay Pacific Aria Studio
Cathay has not yet announced which routes will feature these planes, so it’s anyone’s guess. My money’s on Bangkok or Singapore, but that’s purely a guess.
Booking Aria Studio with Points
Flying within Asia also follows a distance-based award chart (also unpublished). Flights under 750 miles cost 7,000 miles in economy or 16,000 miles one-way in business class. Flights with a cumulative distance of up to 2,750 miles cost 9,000 miles in economy or 27,000 miles in business class, except when flying to Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, or Sri Lanka, in which case the price increases to 13,000 miles in economy or 33,000 miles in business class.
Award pricing is based on cumulative distance (not per segment), so you can combine a flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong on Aria Suite with a connection onwards to Bangkok (assuming Bangkok gets Aria Studio) for just 91,000 Asia Miles.
Fly Aria Suite + Aria Studio for 91,000 Asia miles
Takeaway
Cathay Pacific is making good progress with its Aria Suite rollout, with 18 of 30 Boeing 777-300ERs already retrofitted and Aria Studio set to bring a similar product to regional flights beginning later this year.
For Canadians, Vancouver is the sweet spot. Both daily flights currently feature Aria Suite, and 91,000 Asia Miles gets you to Hong Kong in business class with the ability to continue further into Asia for the same price. Finnair Avios can be cheaper at 85,000 Avios if you’re only flying to Hong Kong, but Cathay releases considerably more award space to its own Asia Miles program.
Once Aria Studio enters service, you may even be able to combine both products on a single award. If the routing stays within the same distance band, you could fly Aria Suite across the Pacific and connect onto Aria Studio without paying any additional miles.
