Thai Airways has historically struggled with fleet and product consistency. That’s largely because the airline has lacked a long term strategy due to constant financial issues, and that has made it tough to actually invest in the passenger experience.
Fortunately in recent years, things have been improving. The airline has been in rehabilitation as part of a turnaround plan, and that seems to be working. We’re now seeing the airline invest in a more consistent fleet going forward, and hopefully this strategy continues.
Along those lines, we’ve known that Thai Airways plans to introduce a new, consistent business class product across most of its wide body fleet, and we now officially know what that product is, as flagged by Executive Traveller.
In this post:
Thai Airways plans to completely change up long haul cabins
Historically, Thai Airways’ fleet has been all over the place, both in terms of the aircraft the airline flies, and also in terms of the actual onboard product. When you fly with the airline, you really don’t know what you’re going to get.
At this point, Thai Airways offers first class exclusively on three Boeing 777-300ERs. On most other planes, the airline has business class and economy, but no premium economy (except for some planes taken over by other airlines, where no changes were made to the interiors).
The thing is, Thai Airways is planning to greatly streamline its fleet, made possible by three things:
- Starting around mid-2027, Thai Airways plans to retrofit its fleet of Boeing 777-300ERs, so the planes will get new interiors
- Thai Airways has dozens of Boeing 787-9s and 787-10s on order, which will also be delivered as of some point in 2027, and those will also feature a more consistent passenger experience
- Then starting at some point in 2028, Thai Airways plans to retrofit its fleet of Airbus A350-900s, and those will likely also get the same interiors
The plan going forward is to eliminate first class completely, and replace that with a “business class plus” concept. Then all these planes will be getting the same new business class product, as well as a premium economy product, along with new economy seats (going from nine to 10 abreast on the 777).
VantageNOVA seat coming to Thai Airways business class
We had known that Thai Airways’ new business class product would consist of reverse herringbone seats with doors, and that there would be a front row “business class plus” product. So that had narrowed down the possible products the airline would introduce. We now have some certainty as to what we’ll see.
Thai Airways has opted for the Thompson Aero VantageNOVA platform for its new business class. While this product isn’t yet in service for any airline, it’s the same new business class product Delta will introduce on its Airbus A350-1000s, and those will also be delivered as of 2027. So it remains to be seen if Delta or Thai introduce this product first.
This looks like a pretty standard “modern” business class product, not remarkable in any positive or negative way. And it’s a huge upgrade across the board, as I imagine we’ll also see greatly updated tech. Thai Airways is known for its unique cabin finishes, so I can’t wait to see what Thai Airways’ version of this product looks like.
Bottom line
Thai Airways has exciting plans for the premium cabins on its aircraft, and we’ll finally start to see more consistency. For most existing 777s and A350s, plus future 787 deliveries, Thai Airways plans to offer reverse herringbone seats with doors, plus a front row business class suite, with rollout starting in 2027.
Thai Airways has opted for the Thompson Aero VantageNOVA platform, the same product Delta is introducing on its new A350s. I look forward to learning more details as we get closer to the introduction of this product.
What do you make of Thai Airways’ new business class plans?
Lucky, over the past week or so most of your links to the articles are generating a Not Secure connection warning due to not supporting HTPSS and advising not to go there.
Keep up the great work, I’ve been enjoying your blog for years.
No need to post this, I just wanted to let you know.
I look forward to seeing how they select colors and materials to make it distinctly Thai.
Good choice in the new seats (though, the existing ones are quite nice already). "Thai Airways plans to eliminate first class"... there aren't too many airlines keeping a designated true First; so many opting for just Business.
It would have been so nice if Thai would have come up with a top-end First Class product. They are perhaps the airline with the most upward potentials (in a positive sense) when it comes to quality. They have proven on many occasions that they can deliver to a very high service standard, and they have a valuable and iconic brand, with a decent hub that could expand way beyond its current status.
Obviously I...
It would have been so nice if Thai would have come up with a top-end First Class product. They are perhaps the airline with the most upward potentials (in a positive sense) when it comes to quality. They have proven on many occasions that they can deliver to a very high service standard, and they have a valuable and iconic brand, with a decent hub that could expand way beyond its current status.
Obviously I get their economic thinking here though. First class is not easy to run profitably, and they already struggle economically. I'm hoping for them to really succeed, though. It's one of the more underrated airlines out there.
Lucky, I know you just went to Thailand, but maybe try to do one final trip report on Thai’s first class, kind of like a good-bye to it?
Ben writes:
“When you fly with the airline, you really don’t know what you’re going to get”.
It has been my experience that the statement is so true …. as far as the aircraft type which turns up to the gate for your particular flight is concerned. The inflight experience, we have found to be most reliable due to the efficiency of the FA’s and consistency of the food and beverage. We would probably...
Ben writes:
“When you fly with the airline, you really don’t know what you’re going to get”.
It has been my experience that the statement is so true …. as far as the aircraft type which turns up to the gate for your particular flight is concerned. The inflight experience, we have found to be most reliable due to the efficiency of the FA’s and consistency of the food and beverage. We would probably have flown Thai more often and further in the past, had one been certain of which aircraft would roll up.
"the aircraft type which turns up to the gate" ... 100%
Last-minute aircraft swaps, especially on certain airlines (*cough* Qatar *cough*) are a major disappointment. (When you pay for Q-Suite, getting 2-2-2 old cabin is pretty bad.)
Hopefully, Thai will become more consistent after these upgrades.
Thai has also announced that it will retrofit its A350s starting in 2028. This was announced a while back but my guess is its not getting much publicity as its still a while off and will begin after the 787s and 777s are flying with the new product, I believe the intention is to have the same product as the 787s and 777s on them as well
@ ahtg102 -- Great catch, thanks! Will update the post now to reflect that.