Historically, Thai Airways’ fleet has been all over the place, and the carrier has lacked any sort of a cohesive strategy. At one point, it almost felt like someone in the carrier’s fleet planning department was getting paid a bonus for acquiring as many different kinds of planes as possible.
Continue reading: Thai Airways Airbus A321neo With Flat Bed Business Class Joins Fleet
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Apologies for getting off-fopic, but I figured I break the news avgeeks alike would be very pleased to know that CX is currently painting an A359 in the former "lettuce sandwich" colours!
B-LRJ is currently in the hangar for their 80th anniversary.
Cheers and all the best for the holiday season.
Back to topic, but I wonder if something like the Apex suites that you would find on select JAL and Korean aircraft would work for a narrowbody. It's still forward facing, 4-ab, but everybody still gets aisle access. Maybe a more compact version with lighter materials.
This is the way. All airlines operating medium haul on narrow bodies should have this as a ‘premium’ feature especially for red-eyes on 5+ hour flights. A321neo/XLR have the capability as do some of the Max jets (SQ does this, too). US carriers are starting to ‘get it’ with B6 Mint and AA’s new XLR, but the old 757 with 2-2 lie-flat on DL/UA is getting old. Wonder what routes Thai will operate this one. Hope their government stops fighting with Cambodia because tourism benefits both countries.
On or off topic, regardless, that’s cool to me. Cathay’s 747 in that old livery landing at Kai Tak is a whole ‘vibe’ for avgeeks, indeed.
This is the way! Thai Airways has finally understood the need of stepping up to its sworn archrival, Singapore Airlines, with a fully competent narrowbody product. This is the very first A321neo in Southeast Asia, not counting Philippine Airlines’ 2-2 full-flat product, to have a truly competitive J cabin. (A bit of an exaggeration perhaps, but TG and SQ are about as friendly in the Star Alliance as QF and QR are in Oneworld — in other words, not at all.)
Now it’s up to MH to show what it can do on the 737 MAX 10, seeing as TG and PR might remain the only full-flat A321neo operators in Southeast Asia. But purists will always prefer what the Taiwanese and Korean airlines are doing on their A321neos, and for them even TG may not be enough!
Another question for you, given that you’ve long advocated that CX’s A321neos are vastly inferior to those of Taiwanese and Korean airlines, or SQ’s 737 MAXes. All else equal, on a daytime HKG-BKK flight, would you take CX’s non-flat A321neo or TG’s full-flat A321neo — assuming that you’re flying ex-HKG where CX has massively better lounges? Would service play a factor, as well as the fact that CX has historically had a much more stellar reputation than TG? I’d love to know!
Meanwhile poor Garuda Indonesia can only dream of such things on its 737s, because neither does it have any natrowbodies on order nor is it even planning for a full-flat J product on them. The gap between GA, a once well-regarded 5-star airline, and the formerly struggling but now high-flying TG and MH will only keep widening, it seems. If only!
Meanwhile poor Garuda Indonesia can only dream of such things on its 737s, because neither does it have any natrowbodies on order nor is it even planning for a full-flat J product on them. The gap between GA, a once well-regarded 5-star airline, and the formerly struggling but now high-flying TG and MH will only keep widening, it seems. If only!
Good question.
The business class seat is what I find inferior on CX. Look around CXs competition where everyone either has a flat bed or will have a flat bed e.g., BR. I would've preferred an angled lie-flat or at least a recliner with a deeper recline akin to a La-Z-Boy .
While I'm CX all day, I have yet to try Thai and would love to do so. It would have to depend on the price. And as far as service is concerned. all I ask is that you treat others the way you want to be treated and not some Yank going on a power trip. That's all I ask. Asians are known to be calm. And on regional flights, I just tend to switch between the map and camera (if available). For food & beverage, CX is hit-or-miss at times.
Their fleet plans are very promising. The 787 and A320neo combo is very flexible, cost efficient, and decent range.
I've only flown Thai sporadically, but the service is always warm and pleasant. Give them consistent hardware and cabins and it should do well. I could see the improved product upselling a lot of people who might be using the local low cost carriers (there's a bunch in the region).
Tho it's sad to see all the cool old airframes leaving the fleet, but that's true for everybody over the last decade.
Nice layout for A321! However Thai would do well to have a consistent business class product. Currently there are at least 5 different seat types across the wide body fleet. Thai have a long history of announcing a new seat, but only fitting it to new aircraft, and not retrofitting into current aircraft. Over the years this has built up to an incredibly variable business class experience, exacerbated by frequent aircraft swaps. They only show photos of one version of business seating on the website, which is misleading. You can unexpectedly find yourself in a less than premium seat.
Yeah, the inconsistency is a major issue right now but it is being worked on, it's expected that by 2029-2030, almost if not every widebody aircraft in the fleet will feature the same seats, as the A330s, 777-200ERs, 787-8s and early RR 787-9s are retired. The airline is also shedding some of its leased A350s that they requited in 2023-2024.
In early 2027, the 777-300ERs will begin a retrofitting programme which will have them feature the same seats as the new 787-9s and 787-10s will receive, in 2028, the remaining A350s are also expected to receive the same seats, with all retrofits expected to be completed by 2029-2030.
Ah.. but will their masters in Beijing allow the Union Jack on the tail? Without it, it’s just not the same.
Tim, clearly that ship has sailed, regrettably. Perhaps, we all should learn our lesson and not let Taiwan fall.
@Ben
Historically Thai Airways did have narrowbody aircraft in their mainline fleet. They had 737-400s from 1991 to 2018.
Towards the end they mainly, if not exclusively, flew to Koh Samui. But at the height of the fleet Thai Airways operated 11 737-400
Beautiful livery too.
Like SQ, it's not beyond the realm to see narrowbodies as they've had narrowbodies in the past; we're just so used to them having an all-widebody fleet for some time. TG is also following the trend of its peers in the region (albeit 2 decades late) of transitioning from 737s to A320s. It's still somewhat awkward with CX as their last narrowbody was the 707.
There were still some aircraft in the former colours sans Union Jack right after the handover, so the omission of the Union Jack would be perfectly fine.
Livery to unveiled in 2 weeks (6 Jan).
Some more intel that I have, a 748 (LJE) along with a 773 (non-ER) (HNJ) will be painted as well.
I have always been a fan of Thai Airways and was excited to hear of them investing in a proper narrow-body fleet.
I am flying with them in March from Delhi to Bangkok in business class. The equipment has been swapped a few times since booking, including the newly refurbished ex-Thai Smile A320, which has no IFE or lie-flat seats.
I was delighted to see it swapped again yesterday for one of these new A321 Neos. Looking forward to trying the Vantage seat on a single aisle