Thai Airways International has revised its initial operations with its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners and will not now launch passenger services with the type until July 8, 2014, one week later than originally planned.
It had originally planned to use the aircraft on its route between Bangkok and the Australian city of Perth and then Tokyo Haneda, but the latest update of its inventory shows the aircraft will initially be deployed on the domestic route to Chiang Mai and then to the Filipino capital, Manila, before entering scheduled service from September 1, 2014 to Perth and Tokyo Narita.
The carrier is expected to receive its first aircraft during the second quarter of this year and had originally set July 1, 2014 as its entry into scheduled operation date. Its flight schedule now shows that the 787 will initially complete a period of crew familiarisation flights between Bangkok and Chiang Mai with three daily flights being operated by the type from July 8, 2014 until August 31, 2014.
Thai’s Dreamliners are scheduled to make their international debut from August 8, 2014 when following the delivery of an additional aircraft, the type it will be also be deployed on the Bangkok – Manila route on a daily basis. This will continue through to August 31, 2014 when both aircraft will enter scheduled service on daily flights from Bangkok to Perth and Tokyo Narita.
The news was exclusively first revealed by our blog, Airline Route, earlier today and has since been spread around other media channels. You can see the original article here: Thai Airways 787 - Airline Route.
The Star Alliance member has eight Dreamliners on order, all to be leased from International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). This includes six 787-8s due from this year (four in 2014 and two in 2015) and two of larger 787-9s, which will follow in 2017. It has also ordered 12 A350-900s and the two widebodied twin-engine types are expected to be used on routes within Asia and the Pacific. Thai will configure the 787-8 in a two-class arrangement with seating for 264 passengers.
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