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Founded | 20 May 2011 | ||||||
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Commenced operations | 7 July 2012 | ||||||
Hubs | Suvarnabhumi Airport | ||||||
Focus cities | Chiang Mai International Airport | ||||||
Frequent-flyer program | Royal Orchid Plus | ||||||
Fleet size | 20 | ||||||
Destinations | 25 | ||||||
Company slogan | Fly Smart Fly Sabai Fly with Thai Smile | ||||||
Parent company | Thai Airways | ||||||
Headquarters | 1704,1705-1708A AIA Capital Center, 17th Floor, 89 Ratchadapisek Road, Khaeng Din Daeng, Khet Din Daeng, Bangkok, Thailand 10400 | ||||||
Key people | Woranet Laprabang | ||||||
Website | www |
Thai Smile Air (Thai:การบินไทยสมายล์) is the regional airline and wholly owned subsidiary of Thai Airways. Based in Thailand, it began operations in July 2012.
On 20 May 2011, the Thai Airways board announced plans to create a new lower-cost airline, at the time dubbed Thai Wings. The creation of the airline was announced by Ampon Kittiampon, the chairman of Thai's board of directors, on 19 August 2011. It is planned to begin operations in July 2012. According to Ampon, Thai Smile is intended to serve the market gap between low-cost carriers and full service airlines. The name Thai Smile was chosen from a pool of 2,229 entries in a contest to name the airline.
According to an official at Thai Airways, Thai Smile is planned to begin showing an annual profit of about five million baht within two years of the start of operations.
Thai Smile currently flies to the destinations below. The airline will consolidate its Bangkok operations at Suvarnabhumi Airport in January 2017, ending service to the Don Mueang airport.
As of July 2016, THAI Smile's fleet consists of 20 Airbus A320-200 aircraft in an all Economy Class configuration of 174 seats. ‘Smile Plus’ in the first rows of the aircraft features 16 seats with additional space and enhanced inflight service. Four aircraft were delivered in 2012 with the first arrival in June. THAI Smile plans to add services to neighbouring countries and southern China.