Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific has been tweaking its Singapore operations recently, giving us a taste of its latest Aria Suites Business Class product on selected Boeing 777-300ER flights, while also announcing the unfortunate end of its longstanding Singapore – Bangkok “fifth freedom” route from late March 2025.

Now the Oneworld carrier has finalised its northern summer 2025 schedule, and there are more surprises in store for Lion City travellers.

Narrow-body Airbus A321neo aircraft will make a daily appearance on the carrier’s Singapore – Hong Kong route, featuring a new – but somewhat unconventional – recliner Business Class product.

Additionally, older Airbus A330s equipped with recliner-style regional Business Class seats are also set be part of the mix each day. With this varied fleet deployment, choosing the right flight number will be more crucial than ever for those redeeming miles or paying cash on Cathay Pacific flights in this cabin class, to ensure the best flat-bed experience.

Cathay Pacific A321neo Singapore schedule

Cathay Pacific will introduce its Airbus A321neo to one of its eight daily flights between Singapore and Hong Kong during the upcoming northern summer scheduling season, from 30th March 2025, as outlined in the schedule below.

Singapore Hong Kong
30th March 2025 – 25th October 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	CX636 A321neo
SIN 20:05		HKG 00:10*
Duration: 04:05
	CX635 A321neo
HKG 15:15		SIN 19:05
Duration: 03:50

* Next day

There are some minor exceptions to the Airbus A321neo operation listed above. These CX636/635 flights will not operate on eight days this summer, for some reason:

• May: 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th
• June: 16th, 17th, 20th, 26th

Apart from that though, it’s daily A321neo service on this flight pairing for all other 202 days in the summer 2025 season.

Cathay Pacific has yet to extend A321neo operations on the Singapore – Hong Kong route into the northern winter 2025/26 schedules (which run from late October 2025 to late March 2026).

However, the airline is known for finalising its schedules and aircraft assignments much later than most. In fact, with the summer 2025 season set to begin in less than six weeks, this aircraft swap has only just appeared in the schedule today.

It’s therefore too early to tell whether the airline will continue operating narrow-body aircraft between Singapore and Hong Kong beyond the end of October 2025, a situation that will only become clear around September 2025.

How come Cathay Pacific has Airbus A321s?

As most of our readers probably assume, Cathay Pacific has been an all-wide-body operator for decades – in fact since Boeing 707s left its fleet in 1983.

Indeed the carrier’s Singapore – Hong Kong and Singapore – Bangkok routes have been exclusively operated by wide-body aircraft for more than 40 years.

Well… the airline actually received its first two brand new Airbus A321neos from Airbus way back in late 2020 – originally painted in the colours of regional subsidiary Cathay Dragon – the intended operator of the aircraft.

However, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cathay Pacific announced the immediate termination of Cathay Dragon operations, folding most of that carrier’s former routes into the mainline operation and that of low-cost subsidiary HK Express.

The airline also confirmed that Cathay Dragon’s Airbus A321neo aircraft orders would instead be taken by Cathay Pacific, the first time the airline has operated single-aisle aircraft since those Boeing 707s we mentioned earlier were phased out of its fleet almost 40 years previously.

Cathay now has 16 Airbus A321neo aircraft in its fleet, with 24 further examples of the type on order. While some of these future deliveries will be operated by low-cost subsidiary HK Express, some will inevitably also further boost the full-service fleet.

Interestingly though, Cathay Dragon never served Singapore, with the premium route seeing solely Cathay Pacific service over the years.

A strange Business Class seat

As we reported back in July 2021, Cathay Pacific selected a rather unusual ‘shell recliner’ Business Class seat for its Airbus A321neo aircraft.

The airline’s latest Regional Business Class is exclusive to these new A321neo aircraft, with 12 seats across three rows in a four across (2-2) configuration.

This is the Collins Aerospace Air Rest model, a ‘shell’ cradle-seat design, first launched in Business Class by Oman Air on its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in 2018.

As with Cathay’s existing Regional Business Class product, reclining your seat does not invade the space of the passenger directly behind you, since the back slides down and the base slides forwards inside its fixed shell into a ‘Lazy Z’ position.

A divider extends by a few inches between the seat pairs for added privacy, and each seat also features individual charging and USB ports below the centre armrest.

Seat width is 21.5 inches, slightly more generous than the 21 inches on offer in Cathay’s older Regional Business Class seats.

Seat pitch is typically 45″ with the Collins Air Rest product, but Cathay Pacific has remained tight-lipped about that particular aspect on its A321neo aircraft.

Design and finish of the new seat was by JPA Design. The same firm was behind the latest Singapore Airlines long-haul Business Class seats, installed on its A350s and A380s.

One area that has definitely received an upgrade from Cathay’s older Regional Business Class is the in-flight entertainment system.

The new Business Class seats boast a 15.6″ 4K Ultra-HD personal TV screen, up from 12.1″ in the previous regional version.

There is also Bluetooth audio streaming in both Business Class and Economy Class cabins, either using your own Bluetooth-enabled headphones, or those provided for Business Class passengers.

The airline also boasts “one of the largest movie and TV libraries available on a regional single-aisle aircraft”, alongside high speed Wi-Fi access plans.

With the A321neo, Cathay Pacific says it is “the first airline in the world to provide 4K ultra-high-definition screens, a 4K video-on-demand experience as well as Bluetooth audio streaming… across all cabins.”

The latest Airbus narrow-body overhead lockers are also installed on the new jets, one of the options in the manufacturer’s new ‘Air Space’ cabin, offering 60% more storage space than older A320 family models.

Ben from One Mile at a Time recently reviewed the new Cathay Pacific Airbus A321neo Business Class product. Here’s his “lovely, with a weird seat” article!

More recliner seats in Cathay’s Singapore summer schedule

Cathay Pacific’s Airbus A321neos aren’t the only aircraft bringing recliner seats to Business Class on the Singapore – Hong Kong route this summer.

Currently, the airline’s flights on this key city pair exclusively feature the Cirrus flat-bed Business Class product in a 1-2-1 configuration, with the exception of last-minute operational swaps and the recent short-term (and even better) Aria Suite teaser flights.

Airbus A330s configured with the older Regional Business Class seats will also feature on several flights, meaning you’ll have to target specific flights operated by specific aircraft types to get the airline’s flat-bed direct aisle access product in this cabin:

• Airbus A330s (selected flights only)
• Airbus A350-900s
• Airbus A350-1000s

Cathay Pacific’s older Regional Business Class is installed in a 2-2-2 configuration on selected Airbus A330s and a 2-3-2 configuration on some Boeing 777s.

It’s the A330s that you’ll have to watch out for this summer (and the A321neos), if you’re avoiding the recliners in Business Class, as we outline in the schedule below.

Cathay Pacific
Singapore Hong Kong
30th March 2025 – 25th October 2025

All services operate daily

			Aircraft	Seats
	CX714		A330	Cirrus Bed
SIN 01:25		HKG 05:10
	CX710		A330	Cirrus Bed
SIN 08:00		HKG 12:10
	CX658		A330	Recliner
SIN 09:45		HKG 13:55
	CX652		A330	Recliner
SIN 12:45		HKG 17:00
	CX758		A350	Cirrus Bed
SIN 13:25		HKG 17:35
	CX734		A350	Cirrus Bed
SIN 16:05		HKG 20:10
	CX716		A330	Cirrus Bed
SIN 18:00		HKG 22:05
	CX636		A321neo	Recliner
SIN 20:05		HKG 00:10*

* Next day

Cathay Pacific
Hong Kong Singapore
30th March 2025 – 25th October 2025

All services operate daily

			Aircraft	Seats
	CX659		A330	Cirrus Bed
HKG 01:45		SIN 05:30
	CX691		A330	Recliner
HKG 08:00		SIN 11:45
	CX759		A350	Cirrus Bed
HKG 08:40		SIN 12:25
	CX739		A350	Cirrus Bed
HKG 11:15		SIN 15:05
	CX791		A330	Cirrus Bed
HKG 11:45		SIN 15:25
	CX635		A321neo	Recliner
HKG 15:15		SIN 19:05
	CX711		A330	Recliner
HKG 16:50		SIN 20:35
	CX715		A330	Cirrus Bed
HKG 20:55		SIN 00:50*

* Next day

Singapore Airlines operates all-flat-bed Business Class products on its Singapore – Hong Kong flights, including a mixture of long-haul (2013 J / 2017 J) and regional (2018 RJ) products, as we outline in detail below.

Singapore Airlines
SIN-HKG-SIN
Business Class

You can view these details for all of SIA’s flights at our continually-updated Business Class Seats by Route page.

Award rates

The best way to redeem Business Class seats between Singapore and Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific is using Qatar Airways Avios points, which you can also transfer into 1:1 from the British Airways and Finnair Plus programmes.

This allows you to lock in awards for just 22,000 Avios points one-way, with only around S$65 in taxes and fees to pay, compared to 28,000 Asia Miles + S$100 in taxes.

Here’s how it looks, programme-by-programme.

Cathay Pacific
Singapore – Hong Kong award rates

FFP	Travel Class
	Economy	Premium	Business
	11,000 + S$65	16,500 + S$65	22,000 + S$65
	10,000 + S$101	20,000 + S$101	28,000 + S$101
	14,300 + S$101	23,400 + S$101	32,500 + S$101
	20,000 + S$101	34,500 + S$101	43,800 + S$101
	25,000 + S$82	n/a*	n/a*
	26,000 + S$101	37,000 + S$101	55,000 + S$101

* Cathay Pacific is currently not offering Premium Economy or Business Class awards to Alaska Mileage Plan members

Cathay Pacific’s decision to deploy its Airbus A321neo aircraft on the Singapore – Hong Kong route from late March 2025 marks a significant shift, with narrow-body jets making a return to the carrier’s key route for the first time in over 40 years.

Not since Cathay’s Boeing 707s plied this route in the 1970s and early 1980s has the carrier operated a narrow-body type between Singapore and Hong Kong.

While the A321neo means a fresh Business Class product with modern amenities, the recliner-style seats certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste – especially for those used to redeeming the airline’s flat-bed options on this route.

Adding to the mix, older Airbus A330s with regional Business Class recliners will also start to feature on selected flights, making it more important than ever for you to check the aircraft types before booking – whether redeeming miles or purchasing tickets with cash.

(Cover Photo: Cathay Pacific)