The future of Thai Airways: Part 2 - The Product

Introduction

In the second installment of this series, I want to focus on the changes currently being made to the airline's onboard product, hard and soft. THAI has already made many changes recently to its onboard product, particularly in the catering department. I wanted to highlight some of these positive changes being made across the board as well as offer a sneak peak to the upcoming hard product on the future fleet.

The airline has a new range of dining options offered to both premium and economy passengers

The Food

One of the biggest changes the airline has been making in the last year was the elevate its onboard dining experience. This is not just for its premium passengers but also those flying in Economy. THAI has also made a clear emphasis on curating locally sourced dishes and vendors, as well as collaborating with local chefs, to create a uniquely Thai dining experience for all passengers.

The first and by far most notable change the airline has made, was offering caviar in Business Class. Early this year, the airline announced that it would offer caviar to its Business Class passengers on Europe bound flights. Creating a range of menus that pair with caviar. Elevating the dining experience extremely and putting the airline in a very small club of airlines that offer this in Business as caviar is usually a dish only reserved for those in First Class.

Caviar appetisers are currently offered on all Business Class flights departing from Bangkok to Europe

Another focus of the airline has been introducing Thai tastes to the sky. Offering menus inspired by local street food dishes, using local vendors for onboard snacks as well as offering a uniquely Thai dine-all-day menu for its passengers in Business Class, through a collaboration with famous Thai chef Bo Duangporn.

The airline now offers street food delights from various regions of Thailand as part of its international Economy Class offerings, dishes that include Khao Soi, Pad Krapao Kai Dao and Masaman Curry amongst many others. The airline has also created its own branded rice cracker snacks, as part of the drinks service on international flights, all locally sourced. There is also a collaboration with famous Thai dessert brand After You for onboard desserts in Economy Class.

THAI Rice Crackers and street food inspired Economy meals

A Thai Green-Curry sandwich, part of the new dine-all-day menu by chef Bo Duangporn

Look Jub TG, a collection of Thai style sweets served pre-departure to Premium passengers

It is also worth pointing out that the airline has also been working hard in changing the presentation of the onboard Premium meals. Moving towards a tray-less service on international long haul flights. The airline is expected to introduce new tableware and dining aesthetic in 2026.

The Drinks

Two of the new signature cocktails offered by the airline

The drinking experience has also been enhanced, with the airline introducing its first ever signature cocktails. The first two of these include;

• Rose Of The Royal Voyage - A collaboration with SILPIN, using their famed Chulalongkorn Rose Syrup

  
  

• Oriental Dawn - A lemongrass and lychee inspired cocktail created in collaboration with The Bamboo Bar at The Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok

On top of the alcoholic offers the airline has also added some signature non-alcoholic drinks as well as a collaboration with local coffee vendor, Doi Tung, to offer a new premium coffee experience onboard. The love for Thai Iced Tea (Cha Yen) has also been captured by offering its own unique version of the drink.

The Black Silk Blend, a drip coffee created by Doi Tung for THAI, served to Business and First

The famous, Thai Ice Tea (Cha Yen) with Grass jelly, a new onboard signature

The Cabins

Perhaps the biggest change soon to be coming to the airline is the new cabins. The first part of this process is already completed with the airline retrofitting 20 Airbus A320s with new recliner-style Business Class seats.

But the most exciting products are yet to be introduced. These are the products onboard the upcoming A321NEOs due in December 2025 and the cabins on the new 787s due in 2027. While the airline has offered sneak peaks to both products, they have not really been reported much outside of Thailand, especially the new 787 cabins.

The A321NEOs will feature lie-flat Thompson Vantage Business Class seats, as well as the Recaro R3 Economy class seats, with the most up to date IFE systems, also offering Bluetooth connectivity. We can expect the roll out of this product to start at the end of 2025, with all 32 A321NEOs expected to be delivered by the end of 2027. This will mark a huge upgrade in the regional experience, currently being carried by the A320s. Once all the A321NEOs have been delivered, the A320s are expected to be relegated to routes within 2 hours from Bangkok.

The A321NEO cabins

However, the most exciting change is coming to the widebody fleet. The 787s, 777s and A350s. For the first time in its history, in any class, the carrier is expected to launch a premium cabin seat with closing doors. The airline is expected to be using the Thompson Vantage NOVA seat, with the addition of a front row premium seat, which is expected to fully replace First Class by 2032. These seats are expected to be launched in early 2027, on retrofitted Boeing 777-300ERs, followed by the 787-9s and 787-10s later in the year where they will be fitted from the factory and expect to see these seats retrofitted to the A350-900s from 2028 onwards.

The airline will also relaunch Premium Economy properly, this was a product previously only available on the A340-500s on routes to Los Angeles and New York back in the mid to late 2000s, and now available on the 3 ex-Virgin Atlantic A330-300s on selected routes. Economy Class will feature the same Recaro R3 seat as on the A321NEOs and will offer all the same bells and whistles, however, this does mean that THAI will finally succumb to the 3-4-3 layout trend on the 777s, being one of the last remaining airlines to still currently keep the 3-3-3 offering across its Boeing 777 fleet.

The airline has offered a small sneak peak into this product, that was released to Thai press in May of this year but it has not been shown much outside of Thailand, hence why the quality of the photos are not great. Chai Eamsiri, the current CEO said in a recent interview that they held back from officially launching the product earlier this year because another unspecified carrier is going to be the official launch customer on an Airbus aircraft, this is rumoured to be Delta on its upcoming A350-1000s. As THAI are expecting to launch it on a Boeing aircraft, they did not want to cause any conflict. We can expect the product to be officially announced by the airline around mid-2026.

A small glimpse of the upcoming widebody product on THAI

Conclusion

So it seems that some major and necessary changes are coming to the airline. On top of the exciting changes to the fleet, hard and soft product, the airline is also focusing on a strategy change, this is something I want to focus further on in the third installment of this series. The airline plans to position itself as a networking airline, offering seamless connections through Bangkok. I think that with the changes coming to the airline, this is definitely achievable and I hope with the absence of political meddling, these changes will finally allow the airline to become the world-class airline that it once was.