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| THAI B777-3D7 HS-TKA (CN 29150) File Photo |
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THAI B787-8 HS-TQE (CN 38757) File Photo
THAI Airways was founded on the 1st May 1960 as a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), and Thailand's domestic carrier, Thai Airways Company. The purpose of the joint venture was to create an international wing for the domestic carrier Thai Airways Company. SAS also provided operational, managerial, and marketing expertise, with training assistance aimed at building a fully independent national airline within the shortest possible time. THAI's first revenue flight was also on the 1st May 1960. Flights were operated to nine overseas Asian destinations from Bangkok.
The airline's first intercontinental services using Douglas DC-8s started in 1971 to Australia, and then to Europe the following year. A number of the larger Douglas DC-10 wide-body tri-jet was acquired in the later 1970s. Services to North America commenced in 1980.
On 1 April 1977, after 17 years of capital participation by SAS, the Thai government bought out the remaining 15 percent of SAS-owned shares and THAI became an airline fully owned by the Thai government. Now in 2016, the company is 51 percent owned by the Thai Ministry of Finance and forty-seven percent of its shares trade on the Stock Exchange of Thailand
Throughout the 2000s, THAI aggressively continued its route network expansion with new services to Milan, Moscow, Islamabad and Johannesburg.
In early 2005 Thai changed it colour scheme from the plain white to the current purple scheme.
Using the Airbus A340-500s it acquired in 2005, THAI commenced non-stop flights from Bangkok to New York, its first non-stop services to North America.
Fast forward to today, THAI employ just over 26,000 staff members and have a fleet of 80 modern aircraft. The ornament on the tail and side of the aircraft consists of three main things: A magnolia blossom, a stylised version of the typical Thai salutation “Wai”, (if you rotate the logo 90 degrees in a clock-wise direction) and as a third it represents the characteristically pitched roofs. And all that put into one with the colours of gold, standing for the temples, the purple representing the tropical orchids as well as the Thai silk’s glamor... hence their slogan "Smooth as Silk"
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