Note: This product doesn’t exist anymore (Cathay Pacific’s A321neos feature a new economy class product)
I arrived at the airport at 9:45 AM in anticipation of my flight departing at 12:45 PM. For some reason, group check-in requires people to be at the airport way early – though as an aviation enthusiast, I’m not complaining!
A friend kindly guested me into the SkyTeam Lounge. While I was hoping to get another review with pictures, though unfortunately, the lounge was jam-packed this time, so I passed. If you’re looking for a review of the lounge, here’s a review I wrote earlier in the year.
I picked up a rather obstructed picture of one of China Airlines’ gorgeous new A350s on my way out, which I’ve been wanting to try for a while.
China Airlines Airbus A350-900 Hong Kong Airport
I also got a picture of a Singapore Airlines 777. Gorgeous!
Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200 Hong Kong Airport
Unfortunately, our gate was at the north satellite concourse, which required a bus ride there, as check-in noted. While I do like the concourse itself, the actual bus ride is kind of a pain in the ass. Well, at least I got nice views.
Dragonair Airbus A320 Hong Kong Airport
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Hong Kong Airport
I sat at the gate area with my friends, and unfortunately boarding with the school I wasn’t able to be first onboard. The gate area wasn’t so full, what I’d expect for an A320 with ~160 seats.
Hong Kong Airport North Satellite Concourse Gate Area
Our A320 was in the old livery, which I may be seeing for a while, but it’s gorgeous nonetheless. Gate 508, the gate we were assigned, is a “corner” gate, where the jetbridge is really long, but that translates somehow to better views of the airplane.
Dragonair Airbus A320 Hong Kong Airport
Dragonair Airbus A320 Hong Kong Airport
Boarding was called soon, though unfortunately as a group we decided to board last…
Cathay Dragon Flight 602
Sunday, November 13th, 2016
Origin: Hong Kong (HKG) Gate: 508 Dep: 12:45 (13:00)
Destination: Xiamen (XMN) Gate: 16 Arr: 13:55 (14:20)
Duration: 1 hr 10 min (1 hr 20 min)
Aircraft: Airbus A320 Reg: B-HSL
Seat: 43K (Economy Class)
When going down the jetbridge we got pretty good views of the plane, though unfortunately there was a queue on the way to the plane (not that I’m used to that anymore, but…).
Dragonair Airbus A320 Hong Kong Airport
At least that translated to better views pre-boarding.
Dragonair Airbus A320 Hong Kong Airport
I was thrilled to find that this plane featured the new economy class product, which I had been dying to try for a long time. These planes feature eight of the Cathay Pacific Group’s regional business class seats in a 2-2 configuration, though they’re different in the way that they don’t feature individual PTVs, but rather just have tablet holders in place. I don’t know why that is, but oh well, such is life on an A320…
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Business Class
Cathay Dragon installs 150 modified Zodiac Aerospace Dragonfly seats in a 3-3 configuration on their A320. The seats are clad in Cathay Pacific’s newest seat covers, also seen on their A350, so naturally they’re very, very well padded (though not to the extent of their old economy seat, unfortunately – let’s hope that’s not true for the A350).
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
I tried to make as many cabin shots as possible, as Cathay Dragon’s
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
The seats are rather attractive, and are rather wide, at 18 inches. They make the entire cabin seem pretty bright and modern.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
I was seated in 43K, a window seat on the right side of the aircraft (as is my preference, though when I have full control of my seat selection I like to be nearer to the very back for better cabin photos).
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
The seats feature a quasi-semicircular headrest, which was customised for Cathay Dragon specifically, as it isn’t featured in the “normal” Dragonfly seat. It looks pretty slick, in my opinion, and is designed pretty well – it isn’t the rock you get in Virgin Atlantic 787 economy.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Other customisations include a cup holder and a tablet holder, both of which are interesting additions, especially since Dragonair passes out tablets on their A320s (they weren’t passed out on this short flight, but they would be on longer flights).
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
I went for as many cabin pictures as possible before a flight attendant sternly made me go back to my seat. Thanks, mom!
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class View from Seat 43K
I explored the seat for a while, not having read/seen anything about it before. While, as I mentioned, the padding was good (not excellent), the seats were rather flimsy, as is the case for slimline seats. At least that translated to a fair amount of legroom.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Legroom
And by flimsy, I meant really flimsy. When I pressed down on the bottom of the seatback, the seat actually “popped” backwards, like you’d see in a slap bracelet.
The seat’s cupholder was actually a great place to put my phone when I wanted it idle and not in my pocket, since these seats don’t feature the incredibly practical recess that the international seats do (thankfully, the same isn’t true for the A350’s seats).
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Cupholder
The seat features a recline button which offers about 5-6 inches of (sturdy) recline.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Recline Button
The seats also feature power ports, though I couldn’t grab a picture without looking like that math teacher at school that apparently does nothing Rowan Atkinson.
Looking at the seatbacks, you can tell that the seats are actually some of the slicker seats I’ve seen on regional configurations. They’re pretty well designed, compared to the likes of China Eastern, British Airways, Finnair or Yangon Airways (okay, I realise I’m not being too fair to Yangon Airways, but honestly they’re on par with the other three examples I gave in terms of their hard product).
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Seat Backs
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Seatback Note
The tray table was in a one-piece but was rather practical and a good size for working. There was also a little recess in the tray table presumably for holding a tablet…
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Tray Table
…which makes sense, given the seatback is otherwise completely bare.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Seat Back
While the cabin features Zodiac Aerospace’s new SmartBin project, the actual panels still contain the old Airbus configurations.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Overhead Panels
They do contain air nozzles, though, which is a huge plus.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Air Nozzles
While no tablets were passed out on this short flight, the tablet holders do seem like they fit iPads, so if you bring your own the tablet holder may come in handy (to be honest, I’m not sure what the recess on the tray table is for anymore – it doesn’t look like there are many people that are going to bring two tablets).
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Tablet Holder
We were held back a little, and finally got a welcome from the pilot calling for a 55 minute flight time, which was fine with me. We pushed back from the North Satellite Concourse, and made our way towards the runway.
Dragonair Airbus A321 Hong Kong Airport
The actual traffic we got upon taxiing was rather interesting, as it included various heavies, some of which I will be flying in the future. 😉
Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 Hong Kong Airport
Aeroflot Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong Airport
Air China Airbus A321 Hong Kong Airport
Orient Thai Boeing 747-400 Hong Kong Airport
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 Hong Kong Airport
For some reason there were three American 777-200ERs parked at Hong Kong Airport, while American doesn’t even fly any American 777-200ERs to Hong Kong. Does anyone know why?
American Boeing 777-200ERs Hong Kong Airport
Zodiac’s new SmartBin project was interesting, as we could clearly see that one bin wasn’t stowed properly (I had a feeling it wasn’t stowed properly when the light was white, and it quickly turned red).
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class SmartBins
We passed a Cathay Pacific 777-300ER and a freighter 747-400, the latter of which made me a little nostalgic about the last time I saw a passenger Cathay 747, which they retired the month before my flight.
Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong Airport
Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-400F Hong Kong Airport
We took off over the city on runway 07R, which was the first time I remembered climbing out over that particular route in a while.
Takeoff Hong Kong Airport
Takeoff Hong Kong Airport
Takeoff Hong Kong Airport
Takeoff Hong Kong Airport
Takeoff Hong Kong Airport
Takeoff Hong Kong Airport
It was a beautiful day up in the air, as is the norm.
Takeoff Hong Kong Airport
It turns out that the SmartBin sensors are actually smart, as the overhead bin by row 39 with the red light burst open after takeoff. This was rectified after a while by a flight attendant, though I’m surprised there isn’t a sensor or anything that notifies the flight attendants, given that they were pretty much oblivious until they saw the bin themselves.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Cabin SmartBin
At this point, I decided to connect to the WiFi to see how the IFE worked. While I hadn’t downloaded their app in time, I did get access to the StudioKA website, which is a nice alternative in theory.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 StudioKA Website
Unfortunately, all movies and TV shows were only available for the app, so I guess that’s bad news for some people, as you don’t know what you’re on until the moment you board. Hey, at least there’s free music!
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 StudioKA Website Selection
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 StudioKA Website Selection
As my hopes of being entertained were kind of destroyed, I had a look at the lavatory, which was much needed after an excessive amount of free breakfast at the SkyTeam Lounge (again, special thanks to my friend Jake and his father).
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Lavatory
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Lavatory Sink
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Lavatory Amenities
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class
I managed to take a pretty nice cabin shot of the aircraft upon returning to my seat.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Cabin
We were then served lunch, which was a reheated chicken bun. I’m not sure about this route, but I know that other hourlong routes used to only feature a drink run, so this was definitely a welcome change. The chicken bun I had was definitely good, but not amazing, on par with the economy roll I was offered on my Cathay Pacific flight from Taipei to Hong Kong.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Meal – Chicken Bun
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Meal
As always, the biscuits are dry and brittle, and the orange juice doesn’t really scream “fresh”, from the packaging to the taste. That’s all acceptable, though I definitely would’ve appreciated a drink run.
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Meal
Service throughout the meal was good, though rushed, as you’d expect in economy with less than an hour of flying time.
I tried to drop off for a little bit after the meal, and woke up around twenty minutes later when the captain was announcing our descent. My eyes were glued to the window for the remainder of the flight, as it was a gorgeous day in Xiamen. Our route grazed over some mountains before eventually entering the city upon our final descent.
View upon Descent Xiamen Airport
View upon Descent Xiamen Airport
View upon Descent Xiamen Airport
View upon Descent Xiamen Airport
View upon Descent Xiamen Airport
View upon Descent Xiamen Airport
View upon Descent Xiamen Airport
View upon Descent Xiamen Airport
It was interesting to see the flaps go up as we zoomed over the Xiamen Air terminal on our arrival. I could tell there would be interesting tarmac views.
View upon Landing Xiamen Airport
View upon Landing Xiamen Airport
I managed to catch a Shandong Airlines 737 taking off during our arrival.
Shandong Airlines Boeing 737-800 Xiamen Airport
I also saw some Xiamen Air planes in their old livery, including a 737-700. While their new livery is pretty modern, their old livery screams retro.
Xiamen Air Boeing 737-700 Xiamen Airport
We ended up parking next to an ANA 767 at the far end of the terminal.
ANA Boeing 767-300 Xiamen Airport
I got some final cabin shots before we left the plane, just in case we got one of the older planes on our way back (it was interesting, however, to see that most planes already have the new interior – that’s fast, considering I still don’t see any reviews up of Cathay Dragon’s new economy product).
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Cabin
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Cabin
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Economy Class Cabin
Conclusion: Cathay Dragon’s A320 Economy Class
There’s no question in my mind that these seats are better than Cathay Dragon’s old A320 seats. They feature power ports, have (limited) entertainment, and have headrests, and are also very well padded, which is more than I can ask for on a 3-4 hour flight, which these seats can be deployed on. I had no complaints about the food or service on this flight either.
Are these a replacement for Cathay Dragon’s current product? No, I’d still go out of my way to avoid these seats in favor of a real PTV, more legroom and a much better-padded product (these seats are still slimline, which I don’t like). However, this is a great solution for a seat that actually seems like it comes from the 2000s, without costing the airline too much.
