Thai Smile
Regional airline of Thailand (2011–2023)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
THAI Smile Airways was a Thai regional airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Thai Airways International headquartered in Bangkok. It merged into Thai Airways International on 31 December 2023. The full cessation of operations was fully effective on January 1, 2024.[2]
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.jpg) Thai Smile Airbus A320-200 in 2019 | |||||||
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| Founded | 19 August 2011 (as Thai Wings) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Commenced operations | 7 July 2012 (as Thai Smile) | ||||||
Ceased operations | 31 December 2023 (re-integrated into Thai Airways International) | ||||||
| AOC # | AOC.0007[1] | ||||||
| Hubs | Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi | ||||||
| Focus cities | Chiang Mai | ||||||
| Royal Orchid Plus | |||||||
| Alliance | Star Alliance (affiliate; Connecting Partner) | ||||||
| Fleet size | 20 | ||||||
| Parent company | Thai Airways International (100%) | ||||||
| Headquarters | 89 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand | ||||||
| Key people | Viset Sontichai (CEO) | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
History
On 20 May 2011, the Thai Airways board announced plans to create a new lower-cost airline, at the time dubbed Thai Wings.[3][verification needed] The creation of the airline was announced by Ampon Kittiampon, the chairman of Thai's board of directors, on 19 August 2011.[4][verification needed] It began operations in July 2012.[4] According to Ampon, THAI Smile was intended to serve the market gap between low-cost carriers and full service airlines.[4] The name THAI Smile was chosen from a pool of 2,229 entries in a contest to name the airline.[4] According to an official at Thai Airways, THAI Smile was planned to begin showing an annual profit of about five million baht within two years of the start of operations.[4]
In February 2023, it was reported that Thai Smile would be dissolved as a separate entity and merged with its parent company, Thai Airways International, by mid-2024 in an effort to reduce losses.[5] On 18 May 2023, Thai Airways announced that Thai Smile would be merged into its parent as part of the group's post-COVID reconstruction process by the end of 2023.[6] Thai Smile was set to cease all operations on 31 December 2023.
Corporate affairs
Thai Smile Airways was an official sponsor of Thai Honda Ladkrabang and Ratchaburi Mitr Phol.[7][8]
Destinations
As of 2023, Thai Smile flew to the following destinations. The airline served only domestic destinations before ceasing operations on 31 December 2023.[9]
Fleet
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As of 2023[update], THAI Smile operated the following aircraft:[14]
| Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Note | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U | Y | Total | ||||
| Airbus A320-200 | 6 | — | 12 | 156 | 168 | Transferred to Thai Airways International.[15] |
| 14 | — | 150 | 162 | |||
| Total | 12 | |||||
