Cathay Pacific’s flagship First Class lounge, The Wing at Hong Kong International Airport, has reopened after an 11‑month, HK$100 billion renovation that deepens its residential feel with walnut wood, green onyx and granite. Enhanced dining with Mott 32, a Pantry for grazers, private Retreat massage booths, work-focused Alcove and Bureau spaces, and customisable shower suites embody the airline’s 80‑year pursuit of refinement.
You have cleared passport control, left the noise of the terminal behind, and now you are here: stepping into Cathay Pacific's flagship lounge at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), The Wing, First. It's a space that has been receiving the world's most discerning travellers since 1998. Except that it isn't quite the same space anymore. After eleven months of closure and its most ambitious renovation to date, The Wing, First has emerged in a new light. The bones are familiar, but the soul of the place has deepened.
You notice the green onyx first. The airline’s signature green stone for first class travellers awaits you at the foyer, as can be found in The Pier, First and its first class lounge in London Heathrow Airport. The walnut wood that accompanies it in the lounge is new. Warm and varied in finish, it gives a touch of personality to the lounge, making it feel more like a private residence that happens to sit above one of the world's great harbours. Beneath your feet, granite flooring draws its roots from traditional southern Chinese architecture.
Back in the lounge, the Dining Room delivers à la carte table service, where Asian and international favourites sit alongside regional Chinese dishes developed in partnership with acclaimed restaurant Mott 32 and rotating monthly specials. For something more casual, the Atrium provides all-day bistro-style dining, complemented by the Pantry’s selection of lighter, bite-sized dishes for those who prefer grazing between flights.
Then there is the Retreat: seven private massage booths with handcrafted wood panels and ambient lighting calibrated to soothe the senses before a long flight. The Pier, First, had this first; The Wing, First now carries it forward. The Alcove offers five multipurpose booths for those who need to eat, read, or work with a degree of separation from the room. The Bureau, entirely enclosed, provides private workspaces for moments that call for greater focus. The shower suites let you set the water and lighting to cleanse, refresh, or relax yourself minutes before a fourteen-hour flight.
This is what eighty years of getting it right looks like.
Cathay Pacific was founded on September 24, 1946, by two ex-military pilots who had spent the war flying supply routes over the Himalayas and saw, in the rubble of the post-war Pacific, the outlines of something worth building. They started with a single Douglas DC-3 and a route between Hong Kong and Sydney. The airline has since spent eight decades constantly evolving and moving forward.
All this makes the lounge redesign coincide with the anniversary year. But Cathay has never been particularly interested in looking backwards for long. Hong Kong itself has always been a city that rebuilds itself, layer after layer, and the lounge renovation — part of Cathay’s well over HK$100 billion investment to further elevate the customer experience — offers a glimpse of what the future looks like.
The Wing, First has always been where Cathay Pacific's promise to its best passengers gets made tangible. You settle in, away from the ever-rushing world of international travel. The room carries the scent of lavender, bamboo, green tea, and jasmine. In a few hours, you will be somewhere else entirely.
For now, though, this is enough.
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