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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
The changes to this regional business class product are sort of "lipstick on a pig" (and I'd still seek out a flight with their longhaul business class seat if I could), though I found the catering and service on this flight to be good |
3.5
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In November 2025, I flew Cathay Pacific’s regional business class from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Specifically, this was Cathay Pacific’s refreshed regional business class product, which flies on a subset of the airline’s regional fleet. These new aircraft feature slightly reupholstered seats and USB-C charging, and I wanted to see whether other elements of the experience had been refreshed.
Well, how was it? There really isn’t much of a difference between Cathay Pacific’s non-refreshed and refreshed regional business class products, and I’d continue to go out of my way to seek out an aircraft featuring the airline’s longhaul configuration. I’m really looking forward to the new lie-flat regional business class product that the airline has promised to launch later this year, as I find this regional business class product to be over-engineered, not particularly comfortable, and very similar to the airline’s premium economy product (while being more expensive and having less storage).
This was also my first time in over 10 years flying Cathay Pacific business class into mainland China, and I was quite impressed by the soft product. I’ll also cover that here.
Which Planes Feature Cathay Pacific’s Refreshed Regional Business Class?
I’ve written in the past about which planes feature Cathay Pacific’s refreshed regional business class product. You can find the full post here. However, in a nutshell, here’s a breakdown of which aircraft tail numbers have which product, as of time of writing:
- All B-HY_ A330s have the refreshed business class product (they’re the old Cathay Dragon planes, that have eight reverse herringbone seats at the front of the plane now also sold as business class)
- All B-LA_ A330s have the refreshed business class product (except for the aircraft outfitted with longhaul configurations)
- All B-HL_ A330s have the refreshed business class product (except for the aircraft outfitted with longhaul configurations)
- For 777-300s, all aircraft except B-HNH, B-HNX, B-HNM, and B-HNQ have been refreshed
- B-LB_ A330s and B-HWM will not be refreshed, and be the first aircraft to feature the new lie-flat regional seats later this year
Do note that some A330s feature the aircraft’s longhaul business class seat, which features a lie-flat seat with direct aisle access and a lot more personal space. I’d recommend trying to snag one of these wherever possible (or an A350 or a 777 with a similar longhaul configuration. You’ll either see on the seatmap that the business class seats are outfitted in a 1-2-1 configuration (as opposed to a 2-2-2 or 2-3-2 configuration), or you’ll be able to see that the plane features a “lie-flat seat” on Google Flights (as opposed to an “extra reclining seat”).
As you can see, the 3:05 PM flight here is operated by a regional business class product, whereas the 5:30 PM flight is operated by a longhaul-configured aircraft
You’ll only know which aircraft will be operating your flight on the day of departure – in other words, you can’t “book yourself onto” an aircraft with the refreshed regional business class product. The aircraft operating this flight was B-HLN, which had received the refresh by the time I flew the product.
Booking Cathay Pacific Business Class
I redeemed Asia Miles for my one-way ticket from Hong Kong to Shanghai, which cost 28,000 miles and HK$510 (£50) in taxes:
21/11 Cathay Pacific 380 Hong Kong (HKG) – Shanghai Pudong (PVG) dep. 15:05 arr. 17:45 [Business Class]
This flight just happened to have the refreshed regional business class – I booked it as I was connecting to my (discounted) Finnair premium economy flight out of Shanghai later that evening. I sought out a ticket in business class as I wanted to check out what the airline’s mainland China experience was like in business class – economy class would’ve been perfectly fine otherwise, and cost 9,000 miles.
Cathay Pacific Business Class Ground Experience at Hong Kong Airport
I got to the airport at 12:30 PM ahead of my 3 PM flight, as I wanted to re-review Cathay Pacific’s lounges at Hong Kong Airport (I’ve reviewed The Wing, The Pier, and The Bridge here). Cathay Pacific has three business class lounges at Hong Kong Airport, all of which Cathay Pacific business class passengers have access to. Alternatively, you can also access the Qantas lounge, which is also excellent – significantly less crowded with good catering and beverages, albeit having fewer features than Cathay Pacific’s own lounges.
Boarding was scheduled for 2:25 PM, 40 minutes before our departure time. I got to the gate around 20 minutes before this, and actually was phoned (as in, on my mobile phone, not paged) by the front desk – since I’d checked in online without checking a bag, they wanted to make sure I had the appropriate documents in order to enter mainland China.
Cathay Pacific Boarding Gate at Hong Kong Airport
Waiting at the gate was B-HLN, our 25-year-old A330 taking us to Shanghai. At this point I had already researched which aircraft featured a refreshed business class product, so I was quite happy that this was one of those aircraft, given that I could review it.
Cathay Pacific A330 at Hong Kong Airport
Boarding began around 10 minutes behind schedule at 2:35 PM. I fly Cathay Pacific fairly often, so it’s not very often that I step onboard a cabin that I’ve not seen before!
Cathay Pacific Flight CX380
Friday, November 21st, 2025
Origin: Hong Kong (HKG) Gate: 40 Dep: 15:05 (15:05)
Destination: Shanghai Pudong (PVG) T: 2 Gate: 79 Arr: 17:45 (17:25)
Duration: 2 h 40 min (2 h 20 min)
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300 Reg: B-HLN
Seat: 15K (Business Class)
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Cabin and Seat
Cathay Pacific’s A330 regional business class features electronically controlled recliners in a 2-2-2 configuration. I was on one of their high-density A330s with just a small business class cabin at the front, featuring 24 seats across four rows.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Cabin
In September I flew the airline’s new Aria Suite, their elegant longhaul business class seat which also features beige upholstery. I gotta say – once you take out the soft lighting, marble, and accents of green, the beige colour tone doesn’t sit quite the same way. Instead of feeling elegant and understated, I felt that the colour scheme seemed a bit drab (much like the A321neos).
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Seats
The seats feature a decent amount of recline, though only marginally more so than the airline’s premium economy product. On this short flight this level of recline was sufficient, though I certainly would far prefer a flat bed if I was flying a redeye flight (which these aircraft sometimes operate, especially to Singapore and Japan).
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Seat Recline
Each seat featured a power port, and there was also USB-C charging (the USB-A port from the previous-generation seat had been done away with).
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Power Ports
The tray table slid out of the seat in front, and was bi-fold. The tray table surface had been updated slightly (it was a lighter colour than before), and I found the table itself to be sturdy and good for working.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Tray Table
Storage is limited to the literature pocket to the side of the armrest. You can put your laptop there if you so wish, as well as small items such as a phone or AirPods.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Storage
There used to be a smartphone holder at each seat, though since phones had increased in size since this aircraft was launched, the pockets no longer fit most phones. Instead of making the pocket bigger, Cathay decided to get rid of the phone holder completely. The extra USB-A port by the screen was also sealed off (I’m not sure why, as it could’ve been handy for those without USB-C cables?).
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Seat Panel
Between seats, there was still a side table, as well as a shared cocktail table.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Cocktail Table
While I appreciated that the refresh put the seat in quite good condition, I still wish the make of the seat was more robust – for example, I put my backpack under the seat in front during takeoff and landing, and when I tried to pull it out after we reached cruising altitude, it snagged and dragged part of the seat fixture with it (as shown below).
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Seat Wear and Tear
It’s good to see these seats feel fresher, though I can’t help but feel like this is “lipstick on a pig” upholstery. Unless you’ve got a USB-C charger, there isn’t an objective improvement to these refreshed seats, apart from their condition. I’m not generally a fan of Cathay Pacific’s regional business class seat, and can’t wait to see what they’ve got lined up for their new regional business class seat.
As a minor point, I’d also like to point out how loud the seat motors were. I didn’t mind this at all, though louder motors are usually less efficient (as they “lose” a lot of energy to sound) – I would’ve expected the airline to update some of the mechanisms behind their seats during the refresh.
In the meantime, as stated, I’d definitely try and find a flight operated by their longhaul fleet if possible, and would even prefer flying the A321neo (for their privacy partitions).
Cathay Pacific A330 Regional Business Class Amenities
Waiting at my seat was a large, plush pillow from Bamford, similar to what you’d find on a Cathay Pacific longhaul flight. Blankets weren’t provided at seats, though were available on request.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Pillow
Cathay Pacific also recently introduced slippers as an amenity on their shorthaul flights, which I quite liked.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Slippers
Additionally, there were some decent-quality over-ear headphones. This was handy, since the airline didn’t put their newest entertainment system onboard these A330s, meaning that they don’t have Bluetooth audio enabled.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Headphones
At the seat was also a bottle of water (not pictured).
I’d call this a solid set of amenities for a shorthaul flight.
Cathay Pacific A330 Regional Business Class Pre-Departure Service
Around five minutes after boarding, the crew came round with pre-departure beverages. When presented with the beverage, I was greeted by name, and the crew wished me a great flight.
I chose a Cathay Delight, the airline’s signature drink with kiwi, coconut milk, and mint – it was as delicious as I remembered.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Cathay Delight
When my seatmate was being served, I cheekily asked whether I could also have a glass of champagne, to which the friendly flight attendant obliged. Cathay Pacific serves Ayala Brut Majeur champagne in regional business class, which was alright.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Champagne
There were also menus already waiting at the seat upon boarding, which I’ll go through later in the post.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Menu
15 minutes after boarding, we were presented with a hot towel. Meal orders were taken while we were still on the ground, and despite being the last person to order, I got my preferred choice (I’m not sure if all of the options were available at this point).
Taking off from Hong Kong Airport
Boarding was completed at around 2:55 PM, where the captain announced our flying time of around 2h (I missed how many minutes, as my meal order was being taken exactly as the captain was giving his announcement). He also introduced the team that would be serving us, and ended the announcement with “I won’t disturb you any longer, and we hope you enjoy our Cathay Pacific service”. While most economy passengers boarded through the second set of doors, eventually some people boarded through the forward door through business class as well, particularly families with small children.
As you’d expect for a 24-seat business class cabin on a busy route on a Friday afternoon, the cabin was full (I’m not sure what the load factor was like in economy).
We pushed back at 3:05 PM, pretty much bang on our departure time, and less than 10 minutes after boarding was complete.
View from Cathay Pacific A330 at Hong Kong Airport
At this point a safety demonstration was screened, followed by pre-takeoff safety checks.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Cabin before Departure
We had a 15-minute long taxi to runway 07C.
Taxiing at Hong Kong Airport
We took off at 3:20 PM, where I had a cool view of the airport terminal from the right side of the aircraft.
Taking off from Hong Kong Airport
The views only got better from the right side, as we flew over the north side of Hong Kong and turned southbound hugging the coast of Hong Kong Island, with a clear view of Victoria Harbour on this mostly clear day. While Shanghai is northeast of Hong Kong, we first flew out towards the South China Sea, hugging the southeast coastline of the country until we neared Shanghai.
Climbout from Hong Kong Airport
Cathay Pacific A330 Regional Business Class Entertainment System
When Cathay Pacific refreshed their regional business class, they chose not to update the entertainment system interface to the airline’s latest version. Cathay Pacific’s old entertainment system UI really isn’t great – while the entertainment system itself is fairly extensive, the screens don’t have a good touchscreen functionality, and there’s a lot of glare (not to mention the lack of modern features, such as any seat controls or Bluetooth audio). While I understand why the airline would’ve just done a minor overhaul to their seats, not changing the entertainment system or upgrading the seat’s overall tech is such a missed opportunity, in my opinion. I would’ve been so impressed to see a more responsive touchscreen or the airline’s latest entertainment system, if nothing else.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Entertainment System
Cathay Pacific A330 Regional Business Class WiFi
Cathay Pacific offers WiFi onboard their A330s, and it’s free for business class passengers (regardless of whether you’re a Cathay member or not). All I had to do was enter my last name and seat number, and I was connected (in contrast to previous times I’ve used this, the interface loaded fairly quickly on this flight). WiFi otherwise costs US$9.95 (£7.30/HK$77) for one hour, or US$12.95 (£9.48/HK$101) for the full flight.
WiFi speeds were good, and measured 18.96 Mbps down and 3.19 Mbps up when I initially connected. Although the flight ends in mainland China, I was able to use all websites (including Meta and Google-based ones) without issue.
Cathay Pacific A330 Regional Business Class Meal Service
The meal service commenced around 15-20 minutes after takeoff. The menu read as follows:
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Menu
In addition, we were given a “Feature of the Month” leaflet, highlighting a local Chinese option on the menu, as well as a suggested tea and Chinese wine pairing. Cathay Pacific offers a “Chinese Classics” menu in business class onboard flights to mainland China, highlighting one of the country’s eight great cuisines – Sichuan, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Canton, Hunan or Anhui. On our flight in November, the feature was from Zhejiang, with a featured main course of Ningbo braised fish with rice cakes – this was paired with tea from Hangzhou (also in Zhejiang), as well as a wine from Ningxia (not in Zhejiang, though Zhejiang doesn’t exactly have the climate for great grapes).
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Features and Wines
While my review doesn’t sound very positive so far, I’ve gotta say that this is one of the most impressive menus I’ve seen on a shorthaul business class flight (even amongst the Cathay Pacific flights I’ve flown). I would’ve easily ordered any of the three options on the menu on any flight, and loved the sense of place and mix of cultures. The only thing is that I hope those on plant-based or vegetarian diets would’ve had something nice to choose from as well.
The wine list read as follows:
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Wine List
The cocktails and beverages list read as follows:
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Cocktails and Beverages List
I’ve always appreciated that Cathay Pacific offers their full beverage selection on shorthaul flights. The only thing I’m not sure of is whether Cathay Pacific has an espresso machine onboard their A330s (from the menu there seemed to be espresso-based beverages on offer), though it’s nice to be able to choose from seven cocktails or a (delicious) signature mocktail, as well as a large selection of wines and dessert wine.
On this 2h flight, everything was served on one tray. While all of the options sounded delicious to me (and I was particularly interested to know how claypot rice would fare on a Cathay Pacific flight), I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try the featured Chinese special, the Ningbo braised fish with rice cake. The dish was alright – the sauce was a bit on the gloopy side (overly starchy), though the fish was tender and very flavourful, and the rice cakes were very nice.
I also ordered a glass of the Chinese wine (Kanaan Winery Riesling) from Ningxia. I can’t say went particularly well with the home-style fish dish or was particularly nice – I find Cathay Pacific’s feature of Chinese wines to be more of a novelty than anything else, though I appreciate the local highlight.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Meal
Since I’d eaten a bit in the lounge and on the plane, I declined the bread basket, which featured garlic bread and some other rolls.
I also appreciate that the airline consistently does delicious side salads. In this case I really appreciated the herbed prawn and scallop side salad, which came with couscous and a wedge of lime. I found this side salad to be delicious, and the seafood was cooked well.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Side Salad – Herb marinated prawn and scallop
A few minutes after the main was served, the crew came round with Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Ice Cream
I’ve had mixed experiences with catering in Cathay Pacific regional business class, though that’s probably the case for many airlines, especially as a frequent flier. (For example, my Seoul to Hong Kong flight had underwhelming catering, where I felt like I wasn’t getting any value for money over premium economy). However, on this ex-Hong Kong flight to mainland China, I though the catering was very strong, and also enjoyed the extensive drinks selection.
Cathay Pacific A330 Regional Business Class Service
While I didn’t interact with the crew much on this flight, I appreciate the polished service in Cathay Pacific business class. In this case, I found the service to be efficient, particularly during the meal service – the crew greeted passengers by name and took meal orders before takeoff, no trolleys were involved (so the service didn’t feel like an assembly line), I was served my main course within 30 minutes of takeoff (despite being the last in the cabin to be served), and my tray table was cleared within 15 minutes of me being served my main course.
Cathay Pacific A330 Regional Business Class Lavatory
Cathay Pacific’s A330 lavatories are nothing special, though they feature Bamford toiletries. The 24-seat cabin shares two lavatories – one on each side of the aisle (a 12:1 lavatory to passenger ratio is really good, even though one is shared with the crew and pilots) – there was never a wait.
Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class Lavatory
Sunset during Cruising into Shanghai
I decided to do some work after the meal service, and enjoyed a pretty sky from my seat. Unfortunately Cathay Pacific doesn’t do an amazing job at keeping their windows clean or in good condition for looking out (particularly on older aircraft), and it was also quite smoggy underneath, though I did spend a bit of time admiring the view.
Sunset over China
Landing into Shanghai Pudong Airport
This flight felt very short, and it was very quickly time to land into Shanghai Pudong Airport. At 4:35 PM (1h 15m after we took off), the captain came onto the PA to announce our touchdown time of 5:10 PM, which meant that we’d be landing in just over 30 minutes. An announcement then followed that Chinese authorities would be collecting our health and biometric information.
The cabin was prepared for landing around 10 minutes before touchdown – we didn’t have much of a view of Shanghai, due to how poor the air quality was at the time.
Landing into Shanghai Pudong Airport
We landed on runway 35L at 5:10 PM, and made a 15-minute taxi to gate 79 at Terminal 2.
Taxiing at Shanghai Pudong Airport
We parked a couple of gates away from an Emirates A380, and actually also right next to the gate where my Finnair A350 flight would be leaving in just a few hours.
Emirates A380 at Shanghai Pudong Airport
While normally I wouldn’t run around a city with a 3h transit time, in this case I wanted to try the Maglev (which I hadn’t tried before), and a friend in town was also heading to the airport. I managed to both try the Maglev and meet my friend (we simply took the slow train together back to the airport), and I got back to Shanghai Pudong’s Terminal 2 around an hour and a half before departure.
Conclusion: Cathay Pacific A330 Refreshed Regional Business Class
I had a good flight in Cathay Pacific’s regional business class. The flight didn’t feel very long, and I found the soft product to be very good. Particularly, I was impressed by the meal service, and the amenities and free WiFi were also a plus. Do note that I’ve been less impressed by some of the airline’s ex-outstation catering in the past, and thought that this flight featured a particularly good menu for Cathay Pacific business class (though you’ll always get the full drinks selection).
I’m just a little frustrated by the refreshed regional business class product, as the product still feels outdated after the refresh. There’s fewer charging options than in the old seat (despite the introduction of USB-C charging), the airline did away with one of the storage compartments (instead of updating it or replacing it with a more modern feature), and the entertainment system setup is still frustratingly slow and antiquated. I understand that this is just a low-budget mid-life refresh, though I can’t help but feel like there was zero improvement to this seat over the older version of the airline’s regional business class – I’d continue to seek out a flight featuring Cathay Pacific’s longhaul business class product. “Lipstick on a pig” is a very accurate description of this mid-life refresh.
I can imagine that if I flew one of the airline’s longhaul configured aircraft on this route (e.g. one of the A350s that the airline regularly flies to Shanghai, or one of the longhaul-configured A330s), I’d have a very positive review of this flight.
