Thai Airways International (AvHistory #20)
From humble joint venture beginnings to Star Alliance cornerstone: the remarkable rise, financial turmoil, and rehabilitation of Thailand's national carrier.
Welcome back, dearest and valued readers (and hopeful value-travelers!), today in aviation history, we're reviewing the Star Alliance's lone extension to the Far East. Thai Airways International!
Thai Airways International plc, as it is formally filed, is the flag carrier of the Kingdom of Thailand. Thai Airways, as it is typically shortened to, primarily operates from Suvarnabhumi Airport in the nation's capital, Bangkok. Thai is a founding member of the Star Alliance, and provides the alliance's only organizational reach to the Far East (we do not consider Air India to be a viable extension given their poor service quality and "bus"-like atmosphere regardless of service class. Two Chinese airlines are Star Alliance members, Shenzhen Airlines, and China Southern Airlines, but they only provide services to and from the People's Republic of China to the United States, and are thus extremely limited).
Thai Airways helped found the Star Alliance as one of the, forgive the marketing jargon here, "five points of the star" (one of the five founding members alongside SAS Airways - has departed Star Alliance, is now a member of SkyTeam-, Lufthansa, Air Canada, and United Airlines) in 1997.
Thai Airways Got Its Start
Thai Airways got its start later than most other airlines, being founded in 1960, after severe domestic geopolitical issues disrupted the country. Thai Airways International was founded as an experimental joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), which held a thirty percent share of the new company valued at two million Thai baht, and Thailand's domestic carrier, Thai Airways Company (now defunct).
SAS provided operational, managerial, and marketing expertise, with all training aimed at building a fully independent national airline in the shortest possible time. Thai nationals were gradually able to assume full managerial responsibility and the number of expatriate staff duly decreased and were repositioned within SAS-proper. Eventually, expatriates accounted for less than one percent of staff based in Thailand in 1987. The experiment had initially succeeded.
The airline's very first intercontinental or true international (transoceanic) services using Douglas DC-8s started in 1971 to Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, and then to Europe the following year. A number of the larger Douglas DC-10 wide-body tri-jets were acquired in the late-1970s (specifically 1977-1979). Services to North America officially commenced in 1980 from Bangkok to San Francisco with a refueling and rest stop in Honolulu before continuing on.
There is no detailed information on the minutiae chronicling these fifteen-twenty years of Thai Airway's existence aside from the commencement of international flights and the 1977 buyout by the Thai government of the extant 15% of shares held by SAS, turning Thai Airways International into a fully state-owned airline.
On the first of April 1988, then-Prime Minister General Prem Tinsulanonda (the country at the time was technically under the control of a military junta), merged the international and domestic operations of the two companies (Thai Airways International and the domestic national carrier, Thai Airways Company) to form the present company, Thai Airways International, to have a single national carrier. As a result, in June of 1991, the reconfigured company listed its shares on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and offered them to the public. The Thai public offering of shares is the largest ever undertaken in the country's history. In 1989, after Tinsulanonda's decision the previous April, flights were inaugurated to Auckland, New Zealand, making that flight in particular the farthest flight south in Thai Airways International's history.
Expansion and Financial Difficulties
Using the Airbus A340-500 fleet, which was acquired in 2005, Thai finally commenced non-stop flights between Bangkok and New York-JFK and Bangkok to Los Angeles (LAX), further increasing their international destinations and their fiscal burden.
Citing very high fuel costs, Thai discontinued the New York service in July 2008. The service to Los Angeles was again reverted to one-stop service via Seoul in May 2012, leaving the airline without a non-stop service between Thailand and North America. The A340s used were phased out, replaced by the Boeing 777-200ER for the new Bangkok-Seoul-Los-Angeles route.
The 2000s also saw Thai expand its Thai airport network beyond its Bangkok hub. The airline expanded even more, this time launching non-stop flights from Phuket to Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong from its hub.
We come now to the crux of Thai Airway's financial difficulties. The genesis of Thai's later (2000s-current) financial difficulties has been attributed to actions taken in the decade of the 1990s when Thai Airways began "buying every type of plane that was being manufactured." Different models of aircraft meant that the airline had to train an army of technicians to keep differing airframes and engines from both General Electric and Rolls-Royce airworthy, significantly inflating maintenance costs.
In the twenty-first century, Thai Airways continued its route network expansion with new international services to the megacities of Chengdu (China), Busan (South Korea, just outside Seoul), Chennai (India), Xiamen (also in China), Milan (Italy), Moscow (Russia), Islamabad (Pakistan), Hyderabad (India), Johannesburg (South Africa), and the Norwegian capital of Oslo.
During the late-2000s, Thai's growth was hampered by a combination of internal and external factors, including a spike in fuel prices, domestic political conflict in Thailand, and the global economic crisis of the late-2000s (in the US, this was more commonly known as the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis). In 2008, after achieving profitability for the previous 40 years, Thai recorded a net loss for the first time in its history of around 21 billion baht (or $675 million USD).
While celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2010, Thai, led by its then-president, Piyasvasti Amranand, drafted new plans for the airline's future, including aircraft fleet renewal and an upgrade of existing services. Thai placed orders for a number of aircraft, including the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350, and it launched a refurbishment of its Boeing 747 and 777 cabins. Mindful of rising fuel costs, the airline phased-out its most inefficient aircraft, including its Airbus A340-500s. The airline took delivery of its first Airbus A380 aircraft in the second half of 2012, intending to eventually deploy the aircraft on its core European routes.
The airline blamed high fuel costs and Thailand's political turmoil. As of the second quarter of 2009, after a series of restructuring initiatives, including a two-year deferral of its Airbus A380 deliveries, the carrier returned to a net profit of 2.5 billion baht.
The board of directors was, in response to the financial difficulties experienced by the airline and the country as a whole, after the 2014 Thai coup d'état (the country's twelfth coup since 1932), eliminated and packed with military brass. When I say eliminated, I mean, in military parlance, purged. Five civilian members were purged and replaced with five Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) generals, as was the board's chairman. The appointments ended Thai's policy of only appointing technocrats to the board. Three RTAF generals remain on the 2020 board (2020-current); they have no experience running listed companies or restructuring loss-making airlines. Concomitantly, employees at Thai enjoyed an overprotected status. Salary increases based on length of employment led to senior captains consistently earning more than the CEO.
Safety Ratings and Regulatory Actions
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) declined to blacklist any Thai carriers following a review of certain carriers in November 2015. Thai later received third country operator (TCO) certification from the EU, effective 15 December 2015, authorizing the carrier to continue flying to the EU for the foreseeable future. Similarly, In April 2015, after an audit of the Thai Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand was downgraded from Category 1 to Category 2 due to negative audit results from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In December 2015, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced their reassessment of the safety rating for Thailand, downgrading it from a Category 1 to Category 2 country.
The FAA in late 2015 subsequently stated:
"U.S. and Thai aviation officials have a long-standing cooperative relationship and both our countries work continuously to meet the challenge of ensuring aviation safety. A Category 2 International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) rating means that the country either lacks laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, or its civil aviation authority-a body equivalent to the FAA for aviation safety matters-is deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record-keeping, or inspection procedures. With a Category 2 rating, Thailand's air carriers can continue existing routes to the United States but they won't be allowed to establish new routes to the United States."
Bankruptcy Rehabilitation
On 14 September 2020, the Central Bankruptcy Court in Bangkok approved Thai Airway's petition to enter a court-supervised business rehabilitation, marking the largest corporate restructuring in Thai history.
In February 2023, it was announced that the low-cost subsidiary (LCC) subsidiary Thai Smile will be dissolved as a separate entity and merged into Thai Airways by 2024 in an effort to reduce losses due to the financial complications inflicted on an already financially troubled airline. These added financial woes were essentially caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, not to put too blanket of a statement on the cause. Thai Smile officially ceased operations in 2023 as a part of the financial reconstruction. All the Thai Smile aircraft were reabsorbed by Thai Airways. The last flight of Thai Smile Airways occurred on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2023 with a short domestic flight from Bangkok to Phuket.
On the 2nd of May 2025, Piyasawat Amaranan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Business Rehabilitation Plan for Thai Airways Public Company Limited (BRPTAPCL), revealed that Thai Airways is conducting a feasibility study to resume flights to the United States via Osaka, Japan. However, according to the airline's 10-year plan, there will be no flights to the United States due to a shortage of aircraft, as Thai Airways is prioritizing increasing flight frequency on high-potential routes such as Paris and resuming services to Vienna and Amsterdam.
After a four-year rehabilitation process, on 16 June 2025, the Central Bankruptcy Court granted permission for Thai Airways to exit its rehabilitation program, as the airline had achieved the four conditions required by the plan: formation of a new board, of ฿40,000 million (double the benchmark set), disciplined repayments without default, and a registered capital increase with debt-to-equity conversion.
The airline later resumed trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on the 4th of August in 2025, with an opening price of 10.5 baht per share, representing a 134.4% increase from the capital increase offering price of ฿4.48 per share, and a market capitalization of nearly ฿300,000 million.
During an interview with the Bangkok Post on the 24th of August in 2025, Chai Eamsiri, current Chief Executive Officer of Thai Airways, revealed that the airline plans to double the frequencies of its flights to Guangzhou and Beijing, increasing from seven to fourteen per week for each destination. Thai Airways will also resume services to Xiamen, Chongqing, and Changsha (also all in China), each with seven weekly flights, and will introduce new routes to Wuhan and Shenzhen. A total of seven routes all in China.
In addition, Thai Airways International is considering launching a new route to Gaya (India) starting in 2027, along with several new domestic routes, in line with the delivery of new aircraft. To bridge the capacity gap before these aircraft arrive, Thai Airways plans to lease eight to ten wide-body aircraft for a period of six years, with a final decision expected in September 2025. The airline will also commence a cabin refurbishment program across its Airbus A320, Airbus A350-900, and Boeing 777-300ER fleets (the Airbus A380 aircraft were retired during the height of the pandemic).
Hub Move and Brand Renewal
Back in 2006, Thai Airways moved its hub to the newly built Suvarnabhumi Airport (Bangkok's new international airport, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year). Coinciding with the arrival of new aircraft in the mid-2000s, as well as its new hub in Bangkok, the airline launched a brand renewal by introducing new aircraft livery, new aircraft seating, and revamped ground and air service.
In terms of liveries, the logo on the tail-fin shows the traditional Thai greeting gesture (wai), and the curves represent traditional Thai architecture of the decorative structure called lamyong that are common on temple roofs to distinguish different tiers in the structure. The gold represents the colour of Thai Temples, while the magenta signifies magnolia blossom, where finally the purple represents the Thai Orchid - a color that is used throughout the airline from uniforms to interior cabin color schemes. This is featured in the picture above.
Cabin Offerings
We will go over Thai's aircraft cabin offerings as is customary before we close out this article.
Thai Airways offers four classes of service: Royal First Class, Royal Silk Class, Premium Economy, and Economy. On 29 April 2025, Thai Airways announced a cabin retrofit program for its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft (excluding those equipped with Royal First Class) and older Airbus A350-900s. The program includes new Royal Silk and Economy Class seats, as well as the installation of the new Economy Plus Class, becoming a worldwide feature.
Royal First Class
Royal First Class seats on Thai Airways are exclusively available on three Boeing 777-300ER aircraft operating routes to London, Tokyo, and Osaka. Each seat is 24 inches wide and 7 feet long, equipped with a fully flat bed to maximize comfort and privacy. The seats are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration across the first two rows of the aircraft. This class offering is roughly analogous to business class offered on most other airlines.
However, Thai Airways plans to discontinue Royal First Class within two or three years from 2025 as part of a strategic plan to improve the travel experience and a restructuring plan to reduce the cabin configuration to only three classes: Royal Silk Class, Premium Economy, and Economy Class (main cabin), thus providing a streamlined experience, akin to other major alliance-affiliated air carriers.
Royal Silk Class (business)
Thai Airways offers Royal Silk class on every aircraft in its fleet, typically in a 1-2-1 configuration. Exceptions include six Boeing 787-8s with a 2-2-2 layout, two Airbus A350-900s with a 2-2-2 layout, two Airbus A330-300s with a 1-1-1 configuration, and Airbus A320-200s with a 2-2 arrangement.
All Royal Silk class seats are fully lie-flat beds, except those on the Airbus A320-200 and Boeing 777-200ER. Most aircraft feature a white and dark purple seat color scheme, with the exception of the Boeing 777-200ER, which uses a purple-white-ruby palette. This is redundant in comparison with the Royal First offering. One can see and understand their reduction.
With Thai Airways planning to discontinue Royal First Class, the airline will retrofit Royal Silk class on its Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, with the first row equipped with more spacious seats, informally and colloquially called "Business Plus", while the other Royal Silk Class seats will have privacy doors installed. This new product will also be installed on the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which is scheduled for delivery by 2028.
On standard international long-haul routes, Royal Silk was differentiated depending on the aircraft.
Thai Airways operates the Airbus A330-300 with two different Royal Silk Class configurations:
- 33R Type: This configuration features a layout with throne seats in select rows. It was first introduced in 2018 as part of the Airbus A330-300 retrofit program.
- 33C Type: Found on two aircraft previously operated by Virgin Atlantic, this configuration uses a 1-1-1 herringbone-style layout (45-degree angled seats).
They operate four different Royal Silk types on the A350-900. Aerolopa.com has the details on these individual offerings, also including the multiple Royal Silk offerings on the Boeing 777-200ER, the Boeing 777-300ER, 787-9 Dreamliner, and the smaller 787-8 Dreamliner.
On regional and other short- and medium-haul routes, Royal Silk class is a bit different but still offered.
The class was introduced on the narrow-body Airbus A320-200 in January 2025. The seats are arranged in a 2-2 configuration across the first three rows and are manufactured by Recaro Corporation in a recliner style. A distinctive feature is the wireless entertainment system, which allows passengers to use smartphones, tablets, or laptops via complimentary Wi-Fi. This new Royal Silk Class is focused on domestic and select regional routes until the Airbus A321neo-equipped with fully flat-bed Royal Silk Class seats-enters service. On the A321neo, The Airbus A321neo fleet features a regional lie-flat business class product. The cabin consists of 16 seats based on the Thompson Vantage model from US-based Thompson Aerospace. These seats are configured in a staggered layout. The seating arrangement alternates between a 2-2 and a 1-1 pattern. The solitary seats in the 1-1 rows, often referred to as "throne seats," provide additional privacy and dual side consoles. Each seat converts into a fully flat bed and is equipped with a 17.3-inch 4K in-flight entertainment screen supporting Bluetooth audio connectivity.
Premium Economy class
The class was first introduced on the Airbus A340-500 in 2005 and remained in service until the aircraft was retired in 2012. Thai Airways reintroduced the class in 2024 with the entry into service of two ex-Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330-300s. The class features a 2-3-2 configuration and is designated as the 33C type. In 2025, just last year, Thai Airways announced that the new Boeing 787-10 will feature Premium Economy Class, along with the soon-to-be retrofitted Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-300ER, both of which will also be equipped with Premium Economy cabins.
Economy class (main cabin)
All wide-body aircraft in the Thai Airways fleet feature a 3-3-3 configuration in Economy Class, while narrow-body aircraft use a 3-3 configuration. The seats are typically upholstered in an orange-and-magenta color scheme.
In terms of lounges offered, Thai Airways operates lounges for both domestic and international passengers under two main brands: Royal Orchid Lounge and Royal Silk Lounge. The lounges are located in at least twelve major airports in and around Asia, including their hub at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Only Chiang Mai Airport (Thailand in the north) has multiple Thai Airways lounges for both domestic and international travelers.
There are a great deal of corruption scandals and more I am skipping over, but this article is already long enough, and you get the gist.
I and our team wish you and yours well this summer and we'll see you soon here! We hope this informs your travel ideas a bit, and remember to firm up and construct your itinerary at brookeintheairtravel.net!
