so like, do we have any confirmation that the delays in aircraft are actually because CX is fixing the issues? or are they just [redacted] around and gonna give us the same inferior product but with months of delays for no benefit to the travellers?

I've stayed quiet till now but seriously... I don't know what your source of information is but the information is very much so (on many occasions now) incorrect.

Believe it or not, Cathay do want to fly the plane that they've spent millions on retrofitting.

On that note, there is a schedule update to where Aria is flying later this month. Given it's a Saturday, I'll leave it to the forum to start digging and find out where/when :).

My point is, they'd be a hell of a lot better off if they fixed these issues early instead of letting the flaws fly on all their aircraft, presumably for over the next 8-10 years

the new port is short or long haul?

[mod edit] have [you] evidence to back up claims?

Is it just me that Aria suite increasingly looks to be a step back from the previous reverse herringbone seat?

Yes there is a door and partition, yes there is a better screen, yes there are some good touches like the toilet availability. But the seat itself is not really an evolution, let alone revolution.

The most problematic part is there are so many things broken already after a few months in service, with broken doors, broken armrests etc just to name a few. The funny thing is the armrest of demo seat in Pacific Place is broken. Also, the footrest and lack of storage space are also major problems compared to the previous seat.

The seat doesn't need to be revolutionary like QSuite or The Room, but a step back is not good for a new product.

No. You would be correct if B-KPO was the only aircraft with Aria Suites, which is no longer the case.

Sounds like your source of information is from within the engineering department albeit a very incomplete set of information.

I am flying CX250 LHR-HKG in late January and the seat map has just been updated to the aircraft with Aria Suite configuration.

Good news for CX255 / 250 J guests!

Nice! Finally long haul operation!

The second 77w equipped with Aria Suite, B-KPF returned to HKG today and is operating CX520 HKG-NRT now. B-KPO finally got some rest:)

could someone remind me who is the Aria seat manufacturer?
I went through 200 hundred posts here, but did not find. Thank you.

Sorry if I got this wrong, but seems CX declined to reveal the manufacturer, and all previous discussion was (educated) guess only.

worrying to read of reports of issues with the Aria seat
The current A350 seat is a really great seat in my opinion. The small improvements they made over the years really add up. Would hate to see them step backwards from that

I think it depends on how you look at it.

Foot well tight. TV sounds good in theory for people who don't fly as often as the most frequent flyers, but it seems impractical, almost too big while you're sitting there and not ideal in bed mode either.

Some stuff is broken but I give benefit of doubt and assume it will be fixed. On both flights my sliding table top/small storage thing was unable to close. And on one flight a suite door didn't close.

It is 100pct an evolution and hardly groundbreaking product. I think CX is making a mistake marketing it so hard as some remarkable "suite" (not really, it's more reverse herringbone with a door), with this cheesy name "Aria", expectations are high. It has just inflated expectations when in fact CX is just doing a nice tech refresh and medium level redesign to bring them up to competitive standards since most competitors have rolled out better products since CX launched Cirrus in 2011. It has been almost 14 years!

But without a doubt, the Aria seat tech is way better than Cirrus J, as to be expected. And I think Aria seats are a big improvement over Cirrus IMO for middle seats D/G which is half the darn seats in J class. Personally I rarely find myself in the middles D/G these days except occasionally to/from Singapore, but it's hard for me to see how I'd rather have Cirrus J D/G over Aria D/G. That's like asking me if I'd rather not have privacy and older tech or have a small private office no matter which seat I choose with Bluetooth connectivity to my airpods and better charging. And I really prefer privacy above most.

Aria D/G seats also works for both couples thx for the larger sliding privacy shield which can be retracted, and for solo travelers obviously as I say above. Whereas old Cirrus D/G were really only ideal for couples , and not so strong for singles if you care about privacy. The A/K in Cirrus are just so much better IMO, and the disparity is less in Aria. So I do think overall Aria is an improvement for CX J class offering, on a net basis. It's not perfect of course but I think overall it is probably better on the whole.

If I may offer some self criticism, despite my own opinion that the name Arua is dumb and CX is marketing it beyond what it really is, I also can't really fault them since if I ran an airline I'd also market the hell out of my new J even if it wasn't as groundbreaking as my marketing team was pretending. They've gotta market their investment in this product is what I tell myself.

I'm basing this not on a huge sample size, I have flown on it twice now (both regional flights).

A350 Cirrus seats would be perfect for all travellers if CX could simply add a retractable privacy divider between D/G seats.