Airlines

Thai Airways - airline information

General information

Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Thai Airways is among the principal airlines in the Asian area. It flies planes on long-haul routes to many Asian cities and operates non-stop flights from Bangkok to as far as New York.

The company puts a lot of effort into marketing itself, therefore its image is highly important. Plane interior, company logo and official website design is beautiful, catching the eyes of potential clients.

The aircraft are colourful inside and flight attendants wear as well, colourful clothes. Kindness and hospitality is the strength of this airline's in-flight services. Thai has won the "World's Best Cabin Staff" award in 2006, given by Skytrax.

Fact sheet

Destinations

Thai serves 74 destinations, especially in Southeastern Asia.

The carrier focuses on main tourist areas, which beside Bangkok also include Phuket, Hat Yai and Chiang Mai.

Fleet

Thai Airways has ordered 6 Airbus A380 "Super Jumbo" double-decker jets, which the company hopes to all enter into service by 2010. Although, due to organizational and technical difficulties that Airbus faced in 2006 and 2007, delays are expected.

Some Boeing 777s have Royal First Class seats, while all Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s do.

Thai offers AVOD (video-on-demand) service, which means that the travelers are able to watch videos that they select.

Thai Airways has a medium-age fleet, the average age of an airplane in 2006 was around 10 years.

Except the Airbus "Super Jumbo", more aircraft have been ordered, of these types: Airbus A300, Boeing 777 and there's a race between the Airbus 350 and the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner".

The Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jet" planes were to leave the fleet gradually during the year 2007.

Comfort aboard Thai's airplanes is exceptionally good. Travelers show satisfaction about the seats and the in-flight services as well.      

Frequent flyer program

Royal Orchid Plus is the airline's frequent flyer program.

Anyone above the age of 2 can join. there are already over 2 million members.

With Royal Orchid Plus, you can earn 2 types of miles:

EQM (Eligible Qualifying Miles)

You obtain these if you fly with Thai Airways, codeshare flights departing from Bangkok operated by the following carriers: Malaysian Airlines, Emirates Airlines, El Al Israel Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, also if you fly Star Alliance flights, Jet Airways flights.

Qualifying Miles equal the exact distance flown (in miles) and additional class of service miles on Thai Airways and Star Alliance member carriers.

Partner Miles

These are non-flown miles, earned from various non-airline partners, for example hotels.  

There are 3 tiers: Member, Service and Gold. Depending on the number of miles you have flown, you can climb up these ranks and obtain better and better benefits.      

Activity & market position

Thai Airways is currently strongly present in the Asian market, but the company wishes to increase its positions in Europe and the USA.

Thai has multiple code-share partners in the Middle East (such as Egyptair, Qatar Airways, El Al), due to the importance of this market to the company. The Middle Eastern air travel market is powerfully emerging and will become on the primary "aircraft roaming places" on Earth. Carriers taking advantage of the Middle Eastern hubs will certainly obtain substantial profits during the coming years (especially after 2010), when the region will have established itself (new airlines are increasing their fleets and modern airports are being built at high rates).

Partnerships & alliances

Thai Airways is a founding member of the Star Alliance, therefore it is partner with Lufthansa, Air New Zealand and other carriers.

Code-share agreements:

Here are Thai's code-share partners:

Air Madagascar

Emirates

El Al

Egyptair

Gulf Air

JAL - Japan Airlines

Jet Airways

Malaysia Airlines

Qatar Airways

Royal Jordanian

Swiss International Airlines

Current activity and perspectives for the future

Aiming at European destinations with the introduction of the A380s  

Thai Airways is planning to extend towards Europe, as soon as the new A380s arrive.

Frankfurt, London and Paris are the main destinations that the company is aiming at.

Thai has a weak presence in Europe and North America. Possibly the new aircraft will serve destination in these regions of the World. Frankfurt, London, Paris are certain, but so far no concrete US destinations have been made by the company.

 Last modified/updated: April 13, 2007