Thai Airways Plans New Business Class For 777, 787, A321neo

Thai Airways has historically struggled with fleet and product consistency. That’s largely because the airline has lacked a long term strategy due to constant financial issues, and that has made it tough to actually invest in the passenger experience.

For the past several years, the airline has been in rehabilitation, and is trying to turn itself around. With the airline expected to exit its rehabilitation in the coming months, Thai Airways’ CEO has revealed some interesting details about the carrier’s plans, per an interview with Airways.

Thai Airways plans new 777 & 787 business class

Thai Airways has plans to streamline its business class product on many long haul aircraft, but we’ll have to be patient. Thai Airways plans to install a new business class product on a total of 44 wide body aircraft, including 14 of the existing 17 Boeing 777-300ERs, as well as on at least 30 newly delivered Boeing 787-9s and Boeing 787-10s.

Thai Airways’ three newest Boeing 777-300ERs feature first class, so those planes will maintain their existing cabins, but that’s the extent to which Thai Airways plans to maintain first class.

Then the airline will reconfigure 14 of its existing Boeing 777-300ERs, with the same product that will be installed on all the newly delivered Boeing 787s. Unfortunately the timeline for this work remains to be seen, especially since the first Dreamliner won’t join the fleet until 2027, best case scenario.

So, what can we expect from Thai Airways’ new business class? The new business class will consist of reverse herringbone seats with privacy doors. On top of that, the airline will offer a front row business class suite, offering extra space, as that’s an increasingly popular trend.

Thai Airways also plans to install premium economy on all of these planes. Furthermore, the airline will be going from nine abreast seating to 10 abreast seating on its 777s, which is disappointing, but not surprising, and follows the industry trend.

So, which new business class should we expect the airline to introduce? The details are expected to be announced in the coming months, though our clue is that it’s a reverse herringbone product with a front row suite. If that’s accurate, that probably narrows it down to one of two likely products.

It could be the Collins Aerospace Elements seat, which is kind of the latest and greatest reverse herringbone seat, making some incremental improvements over the previous Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat. There’s the ability to make the front row special, like what we’ve seen on Starlux’s A350s (though on Starlux, the front row is marketed as first class).

However, it also seems like the Thompson Aero VantageNOVA platform could be a possibility. It hasn’t been installed on any airline yet, but is a reverse herringbone product with a front row suite, and we know that an unnamed airline will be the launch customer. Furthermore, Thai Airways is installing seats from Thompson Aero on its narrow body jets, so that would make sense.

Thai Airways plans Airbus A321neo flat bed business class

Thai Airways has a total of 32 Airbus A321neos on order, which are expected to be delivered as of late 2025. These are exciting new planes for the airline, as they fill a gap with which the airline previously struggled.

Historically, Thai Airways has only had wide body aircraft in its mainline fleet. A little over a year ago, the decision was made to merge subsidiary Thai Smile into the mainline fleet, and with that, we’re seeing A320s get recliner business class seats.

That’s better than nothing, but what’s much more exciting is what the airline has planned for its upcoming A321neos. Specifically, the airline intends to install 16 Thompson Aero Vantage business class seats, which alternate between being in a 2-2 and 1-1 configuration, so you can expect there to be a total of five rows.

Obviously this isn’t the world’s most exciting business class hard product, but it should do the trick for the missions these planes will fly, primarily within Asia, and it’s a huge upgrade over what Thai Airways otherwise offers on narrow body jets.

Bottom line

Thai Airways has exciting plans for the premium cabins on its aircraft, and we’ll finally start to see more consistency. For most existing 777s, plus future 787 deliveries, Thai Airways plans to offer reverse herringbone seats with doors, plus a front row business class suite. Then for upcoming A321neo deliveries, the airline will be introducing flat bed seats in a staggered layout.

This is all positive news, the question is just what kind of a timeline we’re looking at for the wide body aircraft changes. I’m happy to see Thai Airways finally developing some sort of a passenger experience strategy.

What do you make of Thai Airways’ new business class plans?