THAI Technical Department has Capability to Retrofit Boeing 747-400

Mr. Piyasvasti Amranand , THAI President, said that the aircraft retrofit project consists of upgrading all seats in each class of service, complete with the installation of personal screens and new in-flight entertainment system. The retrofit project covers upgrading passenger cabins and products on 12 Boeing 747-400 aircraft which are divided into two phases:

Phase 1: Retrofit of 6 Boeing 747-400 aircraft with new economy class seats, equipped with personal screens and new in-flight entertainment system.
- The first Boeing 747-400 retrofit aircraft, royally bestowed SIRIWATANA, was completed in May 2011 by an external company.

- The remaining five aircraft will be retrofitted by THAI Technical Department at the Don Muang facility. The second Boeing 747-400 aircraft, royally bestowed THEPPRASIT, is currently undergoing the retrofit and is expected to be complete by 9 August 2011. The third and fourth aircraft are expected to be completed in September 2011, and the fifth and sixth aircraft are expected to be completed in December 2011.

Phase 2: Retrofit of 6 Boeing 747-400 aircraft will be installed with new seats, equipped with personal screens and new in-flight entertainment system in each class of travel. This phase is expected to be complete in 2012.

Each step in the retrofit process is inspected by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of U.S.A. and Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand.

Beside the upgraded seats, complete with installation of personal screens and new in-flight entertainment system, a personal telephone system was also installed to allow customers to make phone calls to ground networks while in flight through credit card payment. As well, passengers can make seat-to-seat calls on the retrofitted Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

Specifications of classes of service include:

There are 10 Royal First Class seats on this aircraft. For customer comfort and privacy, Royal First Class seats may be adjusted to 180 degrees, with a seat width of 21.84 inches and seat pitch of 76 inches. For entertainment, each seat is equipped with a 10.4 inch personal screen.

Royal Silk Class has 40 seats that may be adjusted by 170 degrees, with a seat width of 20 inches, seat pitch of 60 inches and equipped with a 10.4 inch personal screen.

Economy Class has 325 seats with an 18 inch seat width, a seat pitch of 34 inches, and 9-inch personal screen.

Passengers traveling on THAI can experience personal in-flight entertainment of their choice through new interactive menu screen, with wider selections to choose from:

- 100 movies
- 150 TV shows and documentary
- 500 music albums
- 17 music channels

THAI aims to create higher customer satisfaction, in an effort to meet customer’s needs and to improve THAI’s overall competitiveness. This has resulted in THAI placing 5 th worldwide in World’s Best Airlines category at the 2011 Skytrax World Airline Awards in the 2011, moving up from 9 th place last year. THAI also was honoured in two categories, winning the title of Best Airline Economy Class Onboard Catering and also picking up the title for Best Airline Economy Class Seat . Over 18.8 million airline passengers from 100 different nationalities voted in the World Airline Awards .