“Smooth as Silk”
Skytrax rating: 4 stars
Star Alliance member
Operations
Globally
- About 60 international destinations
- 12 domestic destinations
South Africa
- Direct ex Johannesburg to Bangkok
- Contact us for more information on other routes
General
Thai Airways International (Thai Airways) is the national flag carrier of Thailand is owned by the Thai Ministry of Finance, making it a nationalized airline. The airline has two subsidiary ventures in Thailand – Nok Air (a low-cost airline) and 51% in another exclusively domestic airline in Thailand which is planned to be named Thai Smile.
Thai Airways plane, showing the characteristic purple wrap-around livery on the rear of the fuselage and the tailfin. Note that the flower is not an Orchid but a Crown Flower.
Thai Airways operates a fleet of about 100 planes. There is a substantial acquisition program at the moment, but many of the new aircraft are being purchased as replacements for existing units in the fleet. This is part of the fleet development strategy which is projected to last until 2022 and will involve phasing out more than 50 aircraft. The airline is making an investment in Airbus A380s and Boeing 787s but delivery of them is only expected to take place over the next 5 to 6 years.
Thai Airways offers four cabin classes, depending on the plane and the type of flight:
- Royal First
- Royal Silk (business class)
- Premium Economy
- Economy
The upper two classes have very comfortable seats with a lumbar massage option without being able to fold out completely into beds, while the Premium Economy allows a generous 42 inches (105cm) of space between successive seats, which is substantially more than any economy class seating arrangement in the international aviation industry. Entertainment is mostly limited to touch-screen video equipment. Thai Airways has been awarded an international award by the World Health Organization for the standard of its cabin hygiene.
The frequent flyer program is called Royal Orchid Plus and it has four levels of membership.
An interesting feature of Thai Airways cabin crew is that they only wear traditional Thai dress if their nationality is Thai – crew of other nationalities do not. This does not cause much distinction between different members of crew because the vast majority of Thai Airways employees are Thai nationals.
If you are planning on going to Thailand for a holiday or business purpose, please contact us so that we can organise a travel package to suit your needs in a prompt and professional manner.
