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For information about which aircraft are equipped with the newest Business Class product, please proceed directly to 1.4.

For information on CX equipment registration, new addition and retrofit status.

Flyer Guide:
* CX Fleet: http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index...%28CX%29_Fleet
* KA Fleet: http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index...air_(KA)_Fleet
FT Discussions:
New Regional Products for 772, 773 and regionally configured A330's
Re-fit Status, Long-haul Aircraft


QuickGlance at this section's questions
1.1 Equipment codes
1.2 Which of Cathay’s aircraft operate where?
1.3 What specific aircraft am I flying on (both aircraft type and product on that type)?
1.4 Retrofitting information


1.1 I’m looking at Cathay’s schedules and am puzzled by the references that appear under “Equipment”. What do all the different three letter alphanumeric codes mean?

After a systems update in February 2012, Cathay's schedules only display the IATA standard three letter alphanumeric codes for aircraft type (i.e. 744, 773, 772, 333, 343 and 77W) rather than Cathay's own three letter alphanumeric equipment codes. The table below lists Cathay's internal three letter equipment codes, together with a breakdown of the types of seats installed on that particular aircraft. For a more comprehensive explanation of the types of seats installed, please refer to the relevant sections of the FAQ thread (First Class, Business Class or Economy Class).


1.2 Which of Cathay’s aircraft operate where?
We unofficially divide Cathay's aircraft into two types of product:

• Long Haul (74A, 74K, 77G, 77H, 33G, 34B and 34J); and
• Regional (330, 772, 773, 77Z).

We also unofficially divide Cathay's destination network into three zones:

• Long Haul (Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand);
• Medium Haul (Middle East and India); and
• Regional (rest of Asia).

From these categories, we present to you the three inviolable rules of CX aircraft deployment:

1. If you are flying to a Long Haul zoned destination, your flight will ALWAYS be operated by a Long Haul aircraft.
Cathay's online pages now all (unhelpfully) display the IATA-standard alphanumeric aircraft code rather than the CX alphanumeric configuration code (e.g. it displays 77W for 777-300ER operated flights instead of 77G or 77H). Following the system update in February 2012, there are also reports of some long haul flights wrongly displaying "773" as aircraft type. If this happens do not worry! Do not be fooled! Do not post a new thread asking whether you will be stuck on a regional 773! So long as you are flying to or from a Long Haul zoned destination your flight will ALWAYS be on a 777-300ER with Long Haul Product. Cathay's regional "773" has derated engines and it is simply physically impossible for them to fly to Europe or North America.

2. If you are flying to a Medium Haul zoned destination, the type of product on your flight will DEPEND on your specific destination and flight number.
Please consult section 2. Certain destinations are always served by Long Haul product, while other destinations might be served by Long Haul product on certain flights only. Generally these flights are "sticky", i.e. they are always scheduled to be operated by Long Haul products. However, unlike Long Haul destinations, these "sticky" Medium Haul zoned Long Haul product flights may sometimes, but rarely be subject to aircraft swaps to a Regional product due to operational requirements.

3. If you are flying to a Regional zoned destination, you may get EITHER a Regional product or a Long Haul product.
Certain regional destinations have "sticky" flights operated by Long Haul product; other regional destinations see Long Haul product on an ad hoc basis. Please see section 2 for more information on specific destinations.


1.3 I want to know what aircraft I'm flying on, but the timetables page of cathaypacific.com, and my Manage My Booking page, just gives the generic IATA three-character code (e.g. 333/77W/744), rather than 33G/77H/74K etc. Is it a Regional or Long Haul product aircraft, and if Long Haul how do I know whether it has Olympus or Cirrus seats, or whether it has First Class, or whether it has Premium Economy? Help!
You will need to do some light detective work, by looking at the seat map of the aircraft assigned to your flight. This can be done easily in one of two ways:

1. If you have an existing booking and are flying in Business Class, log in to Manage My Booking on cathaypacific.com. Pull up the seat map (select my seat) and look at the seat map (using the guide below) to ascertain the equipment currently assigned to your flight.

2. If you have not made a booking, or are travelling in Economy Class (and hence you do not have access to a JCL seat map) you can still use the purchases page to ascertain the configuration of the generic aircraft code you are given. The best way is to make a dummy booking for Business Class and then at the entry of traveller's details page to choose a seat, which will bring up the seat maps. The trick is to identify the layout: any aircraft which has more than two seats windowside (e.g. 2-2-2 or 2-3-2 configuration) in Business Class will be Regional product.

Be warned that aircraft switches between type are extremely common on regional flights, depending on maintenance requirements.



1.4 Retrofitting information
Keeping up with CX's retrofitting schedule can be exhausting.

All of the B777-300ER fleet, and all of the Long Haul A330-300 fleet, now feature the Cirrus Business Class product, Premium Economy and non-hard-shell seats in Economy. There are no more B777-300ER or A330-300 aircraft which feature the Olympus herringbone Business Class product (which can still be found on the 74A, 74K and 34B).

We expect retrofitting to be as follows:

• 11 74A retrofitted to four-class 74K
• All 34B retrofitted to three-class 34J

In these FAQs all reference to three-class aircraft is to a no-First J/W/Y configuration; and four-class to a F/J/W/Y configuration.

Due to their impending retirement from the fleet, the B747-400 and A340-300 aircraft will not be retrofitted with the Cirrus product. In other words, Cirrus seats will only be available on Cathay's B777-300ER and Long Haul A330-300 aircraft. However, the herringbone seats on the B747-400 and A340-300 fleet will have their seat covers refreshed to bring them aesthetically into line with the Cirrus colours.

Please see the post below to check the equipment that usually operates to your destination.

This is all the information we currently have on deployment. Please do not ask whether your flight XXX on whatever date will be operated by a Cirrus aircraft. This information is readily ascertainable by checking your booking online or doing a dummy booking and looking at the seat map (as explained above at 1.3). We reiterate that Cathay are well-reknowned for last-minute aircraft substitutions!