Cathay Pacific Airways

Premium Economy Seats

As part of its fleet renewal to the modern A350 aircraft, the Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific went through an upgrade of its aircraft interior with new Business, Premium Economy, and Economy Class seats. The project scope comprises of design of the new seats for the new Airbus A350 fleet, as well as adjustments to the LOPA (layout of passengers arrangement).

The requirement was to communicate the refreshed brand image through the design of the seats, especially the first Premium Economy seat in the industry, as well as CMF. Based on the brand’s new identity, a new CMF palette inspired by Hong Kong’s natural elements was developed. Premium fabric manufacturer, Rohi was selected to co-develop the newly designed seat fabric, which has a close-knit weave and hard-wearing seam pattern for easier maintenance and durability.

As part of a consistent design language, surface elements were kept to the minimum and design details were clean. This includes the stitch pattern on the backrest, and visually grouping key details. Not only does the design needs to be consistent across various seat classes, but they also need to be applied across different plane models with different seat manufacturers. The design was first rolled out on the Airbus A350, and subsequently the Boeing B777.

Year: 2017

Location: Hong Kong

Scope: Seat Design, CMF

Project Team

Tobias Huettl | Project Manager

Benson Lee | Designer

*This project was completed at the time of employment at Studio F. A. Porsche, copyright: Studio F. A. Porsche, Cathay Pacific