Air France Introduces New Embraer E190 Cabins Into Service
The cabins were officially introduced on a flight from Paris, France, to Hamburg, Germany, on September 1, 2025.
Air France has announced that on September 1, 2025, HOP!, its regional subsidiary, had operated the first flight with its newest Embraer E190 interiors, with the aircraft flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Hamburg Airport (HAM) on flight AF1602.
The French carrier highlighted that passengers onboard the aircraft “enjoyed new, lighter and more comfortable seats, a free high-speed Wi-Fi connection, and a bright, elegant cabin. All of HOP!’s E190s will be retrofitted with the new interiors, which are part of its plan to continue moving upmarket and standardize its hard product and services on its short and medium-haul network, it said.
Following the retrofit, the E190, registered as F-HBLV, now has 110 new seats in a 2-2 configuration. “Reclining by up to three inches, the seat is 46 cm [18.1 inches – ed. note] wide and features a tray table, optimized storage space, comfortable fold-up armrests, and a coat hook,” Air France said, continuing that the headrest is adjustable vertically and horizontally.
In addition, each seat is equipped with a special holder for passengers’ portable devices, as well as USB-A and USB-C ports being available. The good news is that, at least according to the pictures – shown above – shared by Air France, each seat will have a charger instead of a single charging block situated on the bottom half of the seat in front of the passengers.
Each traveler will also have access to free and “ultra high-speed” WiFi. While the service will be free, passengers will have to log into their Flying Blue account, which is the loyalty program of the Air France-KLM group, as well as other airlines. “Air France is gradually equipping all its aircraft with this cutting-edge technology, including its regional fleet,” the release read.
In September 2024, Air France announced that it has partnered with Starlink to equip its fleet with the company’s low Earth orbit (LEO) starting during the summer 2025 season. At the time, it did not provide an estimate of when its whole fleet of mainline and regional aircraft, which as of December 31, 2024, was 266 aircraft, would be retrofitted with a Starlink antenna and other hardware.
Flightradar24 records showed that the retrofitted E190, F-HBLV, has been flying daily since at least August 25, 2025, when it returned to CDG from Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport (CFE). The airport, managed by VINCI Airports, hosts “several aeronautical maintenance companies,” according to the company running the French airport.
Per planespotters.net, HOP! has 13 E170 and 26 E190 aircraft, seating up to 76 and 100 passengers, respectively. In the previous configuration, the latter, larger regional jet had 20 European business class and 80 economy class seats. However, in typical European business class fashion on short-haul hops – pun fully intended – travelers had few, if any, comfort features.
That will change with the new cabins, as Air France has promised that starting October 2025, each business class passenger will have an empty seat next to them.
The new seats, designed and produced in France, were the result of a collaboration between Air France and Expliseat, with Andrea Mocellin, a Germany-based self-described mobility designer and innovator, also contributing to the project.
