Originally Posted by
brunos
I fully agree with you that the trend was already to reduce F seat offering on all airlines.
The problem is that airlines won't have the cash for extensively retrofitting existing ac for a few years.
I agree that CX fleet will be significantly downsized.
BA seriously downgraded its F&B F offering before covid. Their route could be to use their current F as premium J, which some consider to be already the case.
But I am less sure how CX could offer a premium J and J- without unaffordable extensive retrofit. Mabe they would use their 6 F seats for that purpose, but that is a small number of seats and not on many remaining ac. They could go the unbundling way of QR. Reserve the front rows of J to premium pax with enhanced service (PJ, better F&B) and the back for J- with reduced service (no lounge access, paid seat assignment, lesser F&B). All solutions have their flaws.
CX could retire their 77Hs and keep their 77Ks as part of their fleet retrenchment; between A330s/A350s/77Ks they wouldn't have any F cabins left. Keep in mind that their order book has them taking A350s (that don't have F) before they get any 777-9s. If they wanted to reconfigure the fleet to just be J+ as top cabin, it might not be that hard to do given that most of the 777 fleet is parked in the desert. Given that they also have narrowbodies in the fleet and on order thanks to KA being a dead letter, they could revamp things quite a bit (again, much like BR, who also flies narrowbodies).