The future of Thai Airways: Part 3 - The Network

Introduction

Hello everyone! In this third and final installment of my "The future of Thai Airways" series, I want to dive into another major strategy the airline is looking towards utilising in order to be a world class airline, it's network.

So what does this entail? Well to put it simply, the airline wants to use Bangkok as a major connecting hub in the region, competing with the likes of Hong Kong, Singapore and to a smaller extend, Kuala Lumpur. Focusing on connecting travelers from Europe and Oceania, as well as other cities within the South East-Asian region.

The airline has long been considered a more point to point airline, with Thailand being a destination within itself, and while in the past this strategy has worked well, in today's world, it just is not enough to keep the airline running the way it wants to, hence the diversification into connecting passengers across the region. The airline also has a few other tricks up its sleeves that I will go into further detail on this post, where I will split the airline's network strategy into 3 separate categories.

The THAI network as of November 2025

Part 1: China and India - No direct flights? No problem

China and India have long been strong markets for the airline individually, particularly with India being the carrier's most served country with 9 current destinations in India and more expected in the future. However, the airline's presence in China post pandemic is now nowhere near its pre-pandemic network, now flying to only 5 mainland destinations, whereas in 2019, including its THAI Smile subsidiary, it flew to 8 cities, with multiple frequencies a day for most. While loads still remain lower than what they were in 2019, Chai Eamsiri, the current CEO has stated that THAI has found an interesting way around this. For a while now, there has been no direct air link between China and India, due to political tensions. While this is soon to change with some limited service resuming, there is still a major lack in capacity for air travel between the 2 most populated countries in the world. This is where THAI has swept in, advertising themselves as the perfect airline to fly between India and China, with routes to both countries being timed for good connections with each other, passengers connecting to and from India are now making up a good chunk of the passenger count on THAI's China routes.

With the upcoming A321NEOs, the airline plans to capitalise on this even further by adding up to 5 more destinations in China and 3 more destinations in India, to fully place the airline as the perfect airline for seamless travel between these 2 major markets.

The airline aims to turn Bangkok into a competitive regional hub within the next 5 years

Part 2: Europe and Oceania - Watch out, Singapore Airlines!

In a recent interview, Chai Eamsiri, the CEO has stated that by far THAI's strongest market is Europe. Due to the Thailand's strong tourism market, Europe has by far always been the airline's strongest selling point, with regular service between Thailand and Europe being offered by the airline since the early 1970s.

While the European network has always remained a profitable arm for the airline, even during its decade long stint of unprofitability, THAI wants to further improve this. In the last year or two, we've seen the carrier make some small but strategic updates to its Australian network, which currently consists of Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Prior to 2020, the airline also served Brisbane but the service has yet to return, most likely due to the current fleet shortages.

These small changes have been so that the timings for all of the airline's Australian flights, allows for quick and easy connections to its European flights. This has long been a market that Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific have dominated in this region, but THAI now wants a slice of that pie. In the next few years, we can expect to see the airline add further frequencies to existing European destinations, as well as opening new routes such as Amsterdam and Manchester, to further capitalise on this. We can also expect the Brisbane route to return in the near future once the airline has enough planes to do so and as well (to the hope of many), its daily route to Auckland, New Zealand which has not flown since 2020.

This means that THAI can keeps its planes filled year-round on these destinations, as prior to this strategy the airline would see major dips in passenger numbers during the low-season, as most of the airline's traffic relied heavily on tourism trends.

Part 3: Bangkok Suvarnabhumi - The new South-East Asian mega hub

In the last few years, we've seen the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), work with Airports of Thailand (AOT) and THAI, in trying to turn Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport into the region's newest mega hub.

This strategy has played a major role in the changes we are seeing at Thai Airways, as well as the major new investments happening at its hub at BKK. It plans to not only increase the number of passengers using Bangkok as a connection point but also, with the upcoming A321NEOs, increase frequencies to Intra-Asian destinations to allow for seamless connectivity through Bangkok.

As it stands, the carrier is expecting to nearly double its fleet within the next decade, with a 150 fleet aircraft expected by 2032 (if deliveries go to plan). To cope with this large expansion, Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is pretty full as it is has announced its own plans of expansion to cope with the airline's big ambitions of becoming a major regional connecting player. With the first stage of this plan, already implemented with the opening of the SAT-1 satellite terminal back in 2023, where a good number of THAI's flights now depart and arrive.

SAT-1 has given BKK a major increase in capacity, as the airport was already straining prior to the pandemic

The second and most radical of these changes has yet to be implemented but announced earlier this year. Within the next year, AOT is expected to start construction on the South Terminal, a brand new terminal for the airport, which when completed is expected to be one of the largest airport terminals in the world. It is expected to open in the early 2030s, the timeline is to be announced properly later on. This is in line with THAI's expansion plans and its goals of being one of the key major players in the region, as it is expected the the airline will move its operations to the new terminal, once complete.

Early artists impressions of the new South Terminal at Suvarnabhumi

Once this is complete, Suvarnabhumi and THAI can easily follow their ambitions into making Bangkok not only one of the region's most well-connected hubs, but also one of the world's most well-connected hubs.

Conclusion

So to wrap up this final chapter, it does seem like the next decade will be one of the most exciting times in Thai Airways' history. With its fleet, product and network strategy all working together to ensure the airline cements itself as a competitive airline, in one of the most competitive markets in the world. If all goes to plan, it also seems like the airline will also have a new and shiny hub to base its operations out of. Place this with the upcoming products and aircraft. This will, in my opinion give the airline one of the biggest competitive advantages in the region and will truly allow the airline to reclaim its trophy as one of the world's leading carriers.