THAI's first A321NEO arrives in Bangkok, inaugural flight confirmed

Introduction

Last week, on Christmas day, THAI finally took delivery of its first Airbus A321NEO, the first of 32 they have on order. This marks a major milestone for the airline as they work towards modernising their fleet. The airline expects to take delivery of an additional 16 of these aircraft in 2026, with all 32 expected to be in the fleet by the end of 2027. In this post I'm going to get into the airline's plans for these aircraft, the first confirmed routes as well as some sneak peak shots of the cabin, ahead of the official unveiling in January.

HS-TOA, the 1st A321NEO for THAI's fleet, taken outside the airline's hangar in Bangkok

The details

The first aircraft, registered HS-TOA and royally bestowed with the name "Bowonrangsi" arrived in Bangkok at around 9AM local time on December 25th, after flying from Hamburg with a fuel stop to Dubai-Al Maktoum. While it was greeted in Bangkok with a water cannon salute and some selected staff members, there was not much fanfare around the delivery as the airline is expected to be hosting an officially unveiling ceremony in January, prior to the inaugural flight on January 22nd.

The 2nd aircraft, HS-TOB, royally bestowed "Thepprasit" is expected to arrive some time in late January with another 15 aircraft after that expected to arrive in quick succession. The first 10 aircraft have now been assembled at Airbus' plant in Hamburg.

THAI's first A321NEO, "Bowonrangsi" arriving to a water cannon salute at Bangkok

The initial routes

Though initial routes for these aircraft were announced back in November, there have been some changes to this. Initially the aircraft was going to have its inaugural flight to Delhi on January 16th but the first date of flights have now been moved to January 22nd and the inaugural route in now confirmed to be Singapore. The initial routes for the flights are as follows;

Starting January 22nd 2026,

Singapore

TG413 / Bangkok - Singapore / 11:30-14:50 / Daily

TG414 / Singapore - Bangkok / 15:55-17:15 / Daily

Phuket, until February 15th 2026

TG221 / Bangkok - Phuket / 18:30-20:00 / Daily

TG222 / Phuket - Bangkok / 20:40-22:15 / Daily

Delhi

TG331 / Bangkok - Delhi / 23:25-02:20+1 / Daily

TG332 / Delhi - Bangkok / 03:30-09:00 / Daily

Singapore is expected to be the first city to see THAI's A321NEO service

Starting February 16th 2026, once the 2nd aircraft is delivered

Vientiane

TG570 / Bangkok - Vientiane / 11:55-13:05 / Daily

TG571 / Vientiane - Bangkok / 13:55-15:05 / Daily

TG574 / Bangkok - Vientiane / 18:30-19:45 / Daily

TG575 / Vientiane - Bangkok / 20:30-21:40 / Daily

Hong Kong

TG602 / Bangkok - Hong Kong / 18:10-21:55 / Daily

TG603 / Hong Kong - Bangkok / 07:55-09:40 / Daily

As more aircraft come in, I'm sure that we will see more regional and domestic routes be added using the A321NEOs, THAI also plans to launch new routes to China using these aircraft in 2026, with the likes of Changsha, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Wuhan being mentioned.

The cabin

These aircraft are the first aircraft in the fleet to have the airline's new cabin design aesthetic, focusing on more subdued tones, giving the cabin a more sleek, yet still very Thai feel.

The A321NEOs will feature 16 seats in Business Class, these are the Thompson Aero Vantage seats, in a staggered 1-1 and 2-2 configuration, all being lie-flat seats. Economy features the Recaro R3 seats, with new style inflight-entertainment offering Bluetooth connectivity so that you can use your own headphones as well. All seats will come with USB-A and USB-C charging and the aircraft also comes equipped with WiFi.

A small sneak-peak of what the real cabin will look like, ahead of the official unveiling

The Business Class seat, a very competitive seat for narrowbodies, particularly in this region as not many airlines will offer lie-flat seats on narrowbody aircraft.

The new Economy Class seat design, offering a sleeker look while still being very Thai

Conclusion

THAI's first A321NEO marks the start of a very exciting new chapter for the airline as it starts to but its fleet modernisation plan into place. With 17 aircraft expected by the end of 2026, we can expect some major changes in the airline's flight plans and routes as these aircraft are deployed on more and more routes, giving the airline a competitive edge in the region. Certainly a very exciting time for the company.