Thai Airways International is once again the leading carrier from South East Asia to Europe, regaining its number one position from Singapore Airlines. The number of flights (re)opened has been increasing over the last few months. It began in December with a daily flight to Istanbul. The company has since announced that it is reopening its routes. to Milan-Malpensa and Oslo. From 1er On 1 July, Thai will be offering a daily flight to Italy's business capital. The aircraft will be a Boeing 787 Dreamliner offering two classes of service: Economy with 240 seats and Business with 24 seats. On the Oslo-Bangkok route, the carrier will also be offering daily service from 1 July with a Boeing 777-300ER two-class aircraft.
More interesting for French business travellers is the alternative offered by the Brussels-Bangkok route from December 2024. This route was also suspended four years ago because of Covid, daily service from Brusselsoperated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Outside Europe, Thai Airways International resumed its daily service to Perth in Australia and Colombo in Sri Lanka at the end of March.
New, more modern aircraft
After several years of financial turmoil, Thailand's national airline is gradually finding its feet again as it returns to profit. In February, it placed an order for 45 Boeing 787-9s. equipped with particularly fuel-efficient GEnx engines. The aircraft will have an additional capacity of almost 20%, with a greater range than its current Boeing 787-8s. Deliveries will begin in 2027, with an option for a further 35 aircraft. In the meantime, the airline has integrated its first leased Airbus A350s. Four of these aircraft will join the carrier's fleet, with the last A350 due to arrive on 3 July.e quarter.
The carrier's strategy is to regain a fleet that will enable it to regain market share at its Bangkok hub. Between 2013 and 2023, the fleet fell from 51.3% to 27%. This is due to the decline in the number of aircraft in service, with the retirement of many aircraft that have become obsolete. The number of aircraft in service fell by 100 in 2013, the number of aircraft in operation fell to 64 in 2022, then rose again to 70 last year. The airline should have 79 aircraft in its fleet by the end of 2024. Thai has also commissioned Airbus to modernise its A320neo fleet, in particular by installing business class seats that are more in line with what passengers expect today. The aircraft concerned are those that were in service on Thai Smile, the carrier's hybrid subsidiary, which disappeared at the beginning of the year.
