Fly in Style

By CARLOS DELA PASION

January 16, 2011, 12:41am

Center aisle seats in twos are made ideal for those traveling with a companion.

MANILA, Philippines – A sense of space and openness. Angled window seats to give passengers the best view. Center aisle seats in two. A premium lounge to keep passengers in touch and entertained. And magnificent artworks, to boot.

“This is the best business class airline bed in the sky,” Cathay Pacific chief operating officer John Slosar proudly said as the premium airline unveiled its new business class seats in the “Light up the Sky” spectacle, attended by the airline’s prestigious host of The Marco Polo Club members, company officials and foreign media at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The significant rebound in profit last year—with Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific posting a net income of “6.84 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $881 million, up from $812 million dollars for the first half of 2010” according to a business news report from the New York Times—business conditions show sustained improvement allowing the need to travel business class become even more ideal, if not compelling.

The new business class seats, according to Cathay Pacific’s head of product Alex McGowan, was a result of an earnest process which started as early as 2008 after randomly asking Cathay Pacific business class passengers what they would expect from a next-generation long haul business class product. An “intuitive development process” then followed as the company began building prototypes though its own Cabin Development Center, Cathay Pacific’s state-of-the-art airline development facility in Hong Kong.

“We hope the first thing passengers feel when they walk into the cabin is a sense of space and openness,” McGowan says. Such objective was visibly achieved with the new business class seats now dressed in clean modern lines to further define space inside the seats. The shelves’ exterior now come in brushed metallic material. A more confined, soft-padded, independent headboard is now installed replacing the old divider-type panels.

But what was perhaps the most commendable among the many improvements the airline has made to its refurbished cabin are the window seats ,which are now angled facing the windows to give passengers a scenic view outside. The existing business class seats, soon to be predecessors to the modern designs, are angled facing away the windows—a position which might oftentimes feel awkward to passengers, the writer included, who usually experience motion sickness during flights.

Center aisle seats in twos are made ideal for those traveling with a companion with its adjustable sliding control which allows a convenient position among both passengers from adjacent seats. A new, and now widescreen, in-flight entertainment system complements this infinitely adjustable seat, which also converts into “one of the longest and widest provided on any commercial airline,” as Cathay Pacific claims.

Slosar states that passengers can expect the first line of aircraft to feature the new business class product from an Airbus A330-300, which is planned to enter service on some of the flights on the Sydney route in March. “The new seats will be rolled out rapidly, being installed on all Cathay Pacific’s new long-haul A330-300 and Boeing 777-300ER deliveries and progressively being retrofitted on existing aircraft. By February 2013, all 30 Boeing 777-300ER and 20 long-haul A330-300s in the fleet are expected to have the new product.”

Aviation-inspired abstract artworks by Hong Kong-based artist Maria Lobo are welcome additions as well, a testament to Cathay Pacific’s aim of “in-flight innovation to the detail.” Slosar quips: “We put up artwork in our homes to create an atmosphere, so why not the cabin?”

The airline also seemed to understand that they cannot simply rely on just talking about their modern seats, refurbished cabin, and in-flight entertainment to entice passengers. Hong Kong’s celebrated fashion designer Eddie Lau, who designed the current Cathay Pacific uniform back in 1999, with a design revision in 2004, is again at the helm in designing the latest Cathay Pacific uniform—an important tool in “presenting the company’s branding and image to its passengers,” Lau points out.

Lau employs an up-to-date yet classic style proposition to the airline’s newest uniform design which varies either for in-flight or frontline ground personnel. However, Lau carefully maintained red,SS as it is the brand’s heritage color, as well as the iconic brush-wing logo alongside standing collars and cuffs and long skirts for women, to channel elegance and efficiency. A new fabric with mechanical stretch, providing more comfort and ease of movement, has been introduced for all female uniform blouses.

Completing the airline’s list of latest product and service enhancements is the recent opening of The Cabin, the airline’s most modern business class departure lounge at Hong Kong International Airport, and the comprehensive renovations of its signature lounge, The Wing, which is currently underway.

The Cabin is a premium lounge for both first and business class passengers, and The Marco Polo Club members. The cozy lounge houses sophisticated seating and dining concepts, with amenities such as the IT Zone, The Deli, The Health Bar for beverages and fresh fruit juices, and the Solus Chairs—an aesthetic single seat lounge designed in Italy. One of the ideas behind The Cabin is to keep travelers “in touch and entertained.” And the selection of 11 PCs, six Apple iMacs and 20 Apple iPads are indeed more than enough.