Sichuan Airlines is Chengdu's hometown carrier, an all-Airbus airline with pandas on its tails and a network that radiates from the Sichuan basin across China. It grew up flying the country's south-west, and its calling card is the flying most airlines avoid: high-plateau routes into mountain airports west of Chengdu, some of the highest strips in commercial service, work that calls for specially qualified crews and aircraft. The same operation also runs a conventional trunk network, with widebodies on the busiest corridors and longer international sectors.

For seat-choosing purposes the fleet is refreshingly consistent. Nearly every published jet carries a real business cabin, a physically separate section rather than a blocked-middle fare, and the economy behind it is conventional three-by-three on the narrowbodies. One oddity worth knowing before you stare at a seat map in confusion: on much of the fleet the first economy row wears a number in the thirties. Nothing is missing; that is simply how Sichuan numbers its cabins.

Fleet & aircraft

The narrowbody family runs from the A319 to the A321neo, and every two-class fit uses the same formula: a compact two-by-two business cabin at the nose and three-by-three economy behind. The A319 is the mountain specialist, small and sure-footed on short, high strips. The A321 and A321neo stretch the same cabin to its longest, including one fit that adds an extra row of business and another that packs in the most economy rows of any single-aisle jet the airline publishes. One A320neo flies as a single economy cabin nose to tail.

The widebodies are where the layouts diverge. The A330s come in two flavours: most carry a two-two-two recliner business, while one A330-300 fit swaps it for a staggered cabin where every seat reaches the aisle directly. The A350-900 is the flagship, with a one-two-one business cabin in two closely related fits and a nine-abreast economy behind it.

Cabin experience

Narrowbody business is a wide recliner in a small, calm cabin, built for sectors of an hour or three rather than for sleep. Economy across the single-aisle fleet is a tidy, conventional cabin where the over-wing exit rows carry the spare legroom; on several fits some exit seats give up recline for the hatch, so the keen-eyed book the row behind instead.

The widebodies step things up in the expected order. The two-two-two A330 business cabins are comfortable and open, with the centre pair reaching the aisle without disturbing anyone; the staggered A330 fit and both A350 fits give every business seat its own path to the aisle, which is what you want on an overnight sector. Widebody economy splits by type: two-four-two on the A330s, with the window pairs couples target, and three-three-three on the A350s.

Seat selection tips

On the narrowbodies, the over-wing exits are the legroom pick and the forward rows are the fast-exit pick, and the two rarely overlap. Watch the exit rows on the A320-family fits where the seat ahead of the hatch loses recline, and on the A321neo a couple of exit positions lose floor space to the door surround. The last rows on every single-aisle jet sit against the rear galley and lavatories, and they are the seats to leave for the days you have no choice.

On the A330s, couples should look for the two-seat window pairs in economy, and solo business travellers for the centre pair with its direct aisle access. If your A330-300 turns out to be the staggered-business version, the window-aligned seats are the private choice. On the A350s, the one-two-one business cabin makes the decision positional rather than practical: windows for solo flyers, the centre pair for couples, and in economy a window or aisle to stay off the middle of the nine-abreast centre block.