Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Cathay Pacific, Happy Birthday to you!

Cathay Pacific recently celebrated its 40th year of operating flights from Hong Kong to Australia and FreakyFlier was invited on board one of their Airbus A330-300 aircraft which fly the route between Hong Kong and Sydney up to four times daily.

Sadly, I was not checking in for any flight today, but I met with the Cathay Pacific Representative at the airlines check-in area located at counter A in the International Terminal. Interestingly, Cathay Pacific is the only non Australian airline to employ its own staff at the airport as opposed to outsourcing to an aviation services company. This can help when big decisions are needed to be made as the staff can make the decision rather then a contractor being unable to.

The three class aircraft features 39 lie flat Business Class seats over two cabins, although 38 seats are only ever sold as 1 seat is dedicated for crew rest. The forward cabin seats 27 passengers with the latter more discreet cabin seating 11. The 1-2-1 configuration means the middle sections are really the only suitable choice for couples travelling together while the window seats are best for solo travellers.

The seats convert to a 180 degree lie flat bed, perfect for the longer haul overnight flights to Hong Kong. The seats also come with USB power and multi port connector allowing you to stream your own programs to the 15.4″ TV screen on top of the 100 movies, 500 TV shows and 888 music CD’s that the StudioCX features enjoyed with noise cancelling headphones.

There are 28 seats in the Premium Economy Class cabin, with each seat featuring a seat pitch of 38″ / 96.52 cms and width of 19.3″ / 49 cms,  are configured in a 2-3-2 layout.

Each seat comes with a personal 10.4″ touch screen TV and again those noise cancelling headphone where you can enjoy the hundreds of hours of entertainment on offer or stream content from your own devices.

Economy Class is located, as usual, in the rear of the aircraft. The 175 slim line seats 8 across in a 2-4-2 layout feature 32″ / 81.28 cms and have a very generous 19.45″ / 49.40 cms of width and a recline of 6 degrees. When you consider a lot of airlines seat 9 abreast in a 3-3-3 configuration, the Cathay Pacific Economy Class product offering is of a higher standard.

The StudioCX audio visual on demand entertainment system is shown through a 9″ personal seat back TV. Again there are USB ports at every seat meaning your portable devices can maintain their charge on long journeys. With some countries now requiring you to be able to turn your devices on when entering the country this is a fantastic part of the Economy experience.

I had an enjoyable experience on the aircraft and although I wasn’t flying anywhere, it certainly made me want to start planning my next journey with Cathay Pacific.