Thai Airways International

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Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (การบินไทย) (SET: THAI) is the national air carrier of Thailand, operating out of Suvarnabhumi Airport, and is a founding member of the Star Alliance network. The airline operates some of the longest non-stop commercial flights, including routes from Bangkok to New York and to Los Angeles. Skytrax awarded Thai Airways International 'Worlds Best Cabin Staff' in 2006, while placing second in the 'Airline of the Year' category in 2007.

History

Thai started as Thai Airways International, a joint venture with Scandinavian Airlines System (which initially held a 30% share), along with a domestic carrier, Thai Airways Company (Thai: เดินอากาศไทย). The carrier's first flight was on May 1, 1960. On April 1 1977, the Thai government bought out the remaining 15% of SAS-owned shares. On April 1 1988, the two carriers merged to form the present Thai Airways International.

The arrival of the A340-500 coincided with a change to the airline's image, including a new livery and a revised font for the title "Thai".

On May 1 2005, the airline began a non-stop Bangkok-New York service (TG790/791) with a new A340-500. The New York bound flight time is 16 hours 55 minutes and Bangkok bound flight time is 17 hours 10 minutes. Routing from New York/JFK is via Bergen; Oslo; Stockholm; the Baltic States; south of Moscow; Kabul; south of Delhi and on into Bangkok. Routing from Bangkok/BKK is north over Laos and Vietnam; then over China and into Siberia; north to a very short crossing of the Chukchi Sea to near Nome, Alaska; east past Cambridge Bay and the southern end of the Northwest passage; then southeast over Hudson Bay to a point between Ottawa and Montreal. Finally over the Adirondacks and the Hudson Valley down into JFK.

Non-stop Bangkok-Los Angeles service (TG794/795) started on December 2 2005, also using a new A340-500. The flight time is 16.5 hours eastbound. This replaces TG774/775 (LAX-KIX-BKK & BKK-KIX-LAX) service using Boeing 747-400 aircraft and the stop at Kansai International Airport in Osaka.

Thai Airways International operates three weekly direct flights on the route Bangkok – Johannesburg v.v., utilizing A340-600 aircraft from October 2006.

Destinations

On September 28, 2006 at 1:45am, flight TG 662 to Shanghai was the last Thai Airways departure from Don Mueang. At 4:45am, TG 316 from Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi, India was Thai Airways' first official arrival at Suvarnabhumi.

Cargo

Thai Airways Cargo operate 747-200F freighter aircraft service, thrice weekly Bangkok-Dubai-Paris in cooperation with Focus Air Cargo.

Fleet

The Thai Airways International fleet consists of the following aircraft as of March 2008 :

Thai Airways International Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Passengers (First/Royal Silk/Premium Economy*/Economy)	Notes
Airbus A300-600	10 2 5	247 (0/46/201) 261 (0/28/233) 260 (0/28/232)	Some to be phased out in 2008-2009
Airbus A321-200	0 (20 orders)	179 (0/20/159)	For delivery between 2012-2017
Airbus A330-300	12 (8 orders)	305 (42/263)	For delivery between 2008-2010
Airbus A340-500	4	215 (0/60/42/113)	Ultra long-haul flights to New York and Los Angeles
Airbus A340-600	5 (1 order)	267 (8/60/199)	For delivery in 2008
Airbus A380-800	0 (6 orders)		For delivery between 2010-2012, Will be used for Bangkok - London, Paris and Frankfurt routes
ATR-72-200	2	66 (0/0/66)	Includes 1 aircraft leased out to Nok Air
Boeing 737-400	10	149 (0/12/137)	Includes 4 aircraft leased out to Nok Air
Boeing 747-400	6 12	389 (14/50/325) 375 (10/40/325)
Boeing 777-200	8	309 (0/30/279)	Domestic, China, Japan
Boeing 777-200ER	6	292 (0/30/262)
Boeing 777-300	5 1	388 (0/49/339) 364 (0/34/330)	Domestic, China, Japan
Boeing 787-9	0 14 orders		For delivery between 2012-2015
Total number of aircraft	88 (49 orders)

^{*Premium Economy is only available on non-stop flights from Bangkok to Los Angeles and New York.}

The average age of the Thai fleet was 10.5 years at December 2007.

Thai has ordered 6 Airbus A380 aircraft, which will be delivered from 2010 for use on services to Frankfurt, Paris and London where frequencies cannot yet be increased.

Six Airbus A300-600 will leave the fleet between 2008-2009, Thai will acquire 8 A330-300 as replacement aircraft for delivery between 2008 and 2010.

The airline has a plan to retire 47 planes, and buys 65 in 10 years, Thai plan to lease 14 Boeing 787-9, buy 8 Boeing 747-8I and 20 Airbus 321-200. The airline still studies the additional 23 on more Boeing 787s, Boeing 737-900 and Airbus A350.

Cabin

Thai has four travel classes: Economy, Premium Economy, Royal Silk and Royal First.

Economy Class

Economy Class is the lowest price class on Thai. Seat pitch on Thai Economy offers passengers up to 36" pitch in selected aircraft with an average of 34" on all aircraft. Seat rows are configured in a 3-3-3 configuration in Boeing 777-200,777-300 and 777-200ER aircraft, 2-4-2 in Airbus A340-500, A340-600, A330-300 and A300-600 aircraft, 3-4-3 in Boeing 747-400 aircraft and 3-3 in Boeing737-400 aircrafts. All Economy seats in Airbus A340-500, Airbus A340-600, Boeing B777-200ER and Boeing 777-300 (HS-TKA only) have individual Audio-Video On Demand (AVOD) In-flight Entertainment (IFE) system with 10.5" touch screen with more than 50 movies to choose and also many varieties of songs, games, and videos. Passengers will be given a choice of Thai or Western meals. Alcoholic beverages are free and served to passengers over the legal age limit.

Thai Flight Attendants Uniforms

The flight attendants hold a special job in the air as well as the ground. The flight attendants are required to walk around at the airport and check-in areas in their purple suit uniforms. As they board the aircraft and prepare for the flight, they change into the famous thai dress, as seen on all Thai Airways' marketing communications,similar to the Singapore Airlines sarong kebaya. Thai filght attendants only change into their Thai costume on filghts longer than 90 minutes in duration. As the flight enters a descend, the flight attendants change back into their purple suits.

The colour of the Silk dresses are assigned according to the flight attendant's skin tone and eye colour. A fresh Orchid corsage is also a mandatory item on the sash-like Sabai.

The only flight attendant onboard a certain flight who does not change into the silk uniform is the inflight Purser(Inflight-Chief) who remains in a purple suit for distinction from the rest of the crew. Male stewards also have to change their jackets. This is the Uniform change Chart: Airport Boarding/Onboard service 30min before Landing

   Female In-Flight Purser (Chief)    Suit/Purple      Suit/Purple            Suit/Purple

   Female Flight Attendants           Suit/Purple      Thai Silk Dress        Suit/Purple

   Male In-Flight Manager             Suit/Black       Suit/Grey              Suit/Black

   Male Flight Attendants             Suit/Black       Suit/Red               Suit/Black

Premium Economy Class

The new Premium Economy Class is only available on inter-continental flights between Bangkok(BKK) and Los Angeles(LAX) or New York(JFK) on Airbus A340-500 aircraft. The fare for Premium Economy Class is slightly higher than Economy but lower than Royal Silk (Business) Class. Premium Economy seating is configured as 2-3-2 rather than the standard 2-4-2 in Economy. Seat pitch is increased to 42", 135 degree angle of recline and the seat features a leg-rest. Premium Economy class passengers also have more choices over their meal selection. All seats of Premium Economy class are equipped with AVOD and IFE with 10.5" touch screen.

On some long-haul routes such as Bangkok - Copenhagen, Bangkok - Stockholm, aircraft with previous generation Business Class seats are used - therefore the seats are sold under Premium Economy Class fare.

Royal Silk (Business) Class

This includes a dedicated check-in facility at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport, dedicated check-in desks at major airports around the world, lounge access, priority boarding, pre-flight champagne, fast track lane for passport control & security-check and priority baggage handling.

The new shell, angled lie-flat business class seats are installed on 12 Boeing 747-400 aircraft, 1 Boeing 777-300 aircraft,all boeing 777-200 aircrafts, all Boeing 777-200ER aircraft and all Airbus A340 aircraft. The pitch is 60"-62" between seats and width is 20"-21.5". When fully reclined (electrically adjusted) the seat becomes completely flat, however it is angled. The seat can perform lumbar massage. All seats are equipped with 17"-20" touch screen and AVOD IFE.

There are more choices of main course meal selection in Royal Silk class on international flights, although some may be identical to Economy Class offering. Premium alcoholic drinks are served with a more extensive choices of wine. Port and cheese is served after lunch and dinner.

Royal First Class

The new Royal First Class was introduced with the arrival of the Airbus A340-600.

It offers 8 solo flat-beds. Furthermore, Thai's retrofited 12 Boeing 747-400s are also equipped with this B/E Aerospace seat which mostly serves Europe-Australia and some intra-Asian flights. The new seats are equiped with lumbar massage and personal touch screen with AVOD and IFE system. Passenger on Royal First class can have pre-order meal with 22 choices before they fly.

Royal Orchid Plus

Thai Airways International's Royal Orchid Plus is the first frequent flyer program established in Thailand . It has a membership of over two million members world-wide.

Earning Miles

There are two types of mile which can be earned towards a Royal Orchid Plus account.

Firstly, Eligible Qualifying Miles (EQM) this type of mile is earned on:

• Thai Airways flights
• TG codeshare flights on routes departing from/to Bangkok (Malaysian Airlines, Emirates Airlines, El Al Israel Airlines and China Eastern Airlines)
• Star Alliance flights
• Jet Airways flights

Qualifying Miles (Q Miles) are the miles flown and additional class of service miles on Thai and Star Alliance airlines. Royal Orchid Plus miles are earned based on the paid class of travel.

Secondly, Partner Miles are earned from non-airline partners, such as hotels.

Status Tiers

There are three tiers in the Royal Orchid Plus program

• Member - entry-level status
• Silver - requires 10,000 Q Miles in one calendar year or 15,000 Q Miles from the date of enrolment up to December 31 of the next complete calendar year
• Gold - requires 50,000 Q Miles in one calendar year, 80,000 Q Miles from the date of enrolment up to December 31 of the next complete calendar year, or 40 international flown sectors on THAI within any 1 calendar year.

Codeshare agreements

Thai Airways International codeshares with the following airlines:

Incidents and accidents

• July 31 1992 – Flight 311, an Airbus A310-304 hit the side of a hill 23 miles north of Kathmandu while descending towards Tribhuvan International Airport from Bangkok. All 113 on board (99 passengers and 14 crew) died. The accident was caused by technical faults (with flaps and a possible second unknown fault), pilot error and lack of equipment at TIA at the time (no radar).
• December 11 1998 – Flight 261, another A310-200, bound for Surat Thani from Bangkok, during its third landing attempt in heavy rain, crashed into a rice paddy about 2 miles from Surat Thani airport; 102 of 143 aboard were killed.
• March 3 2001 – a Boeing 737-400, bound for Chiang Mai from Bangkok, was destroyed by an explosion of the center wing tank resulting from ignition of the flammable fuel/air mixture in the tank. The source of the ignition energy for the explosion could not be determined with certainty, but the most likely source was an explosion originating at the center wing tank pump as a result of running the pump in the presence of metal shavings and a fuel/air mixture. One flight attendant died

References

See also

• Nok Air
• Don Mueang International Airport
• Suvarnabhumi Airport

External links

• Thai Airways International official website

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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 14:17:54 PDT (GMT -0700)
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