Thai Airways International’s (THAI) new regional carrier, THAI Smile, has launched its first flight.

The new carrier’s first Airbus A320 aircraft took off from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport on Saturday (7 July) on a flight to Macau, carrying a full load of 174 passengers. The Bangkok-Macau route will now be served daily.

Ampon Kittiampon, THAI’s Chairman presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony of prior to the inaugural flight.

 THAI Smile, which will be based alongside THAI at Suvarnabhumi, will operate regional and domestic flights with flight times of approximately three hours, focusing on destinations in ASEAN, China and India.

The immediate focus however, will be on establishing THAI Smile’s domestic presence. Following the Macau launch, THAI Smile will add daily flights to Chiang Mai, twice daily services to Surat Thai – the gateway to Koh Samui – and four daily services to Krabi. Then from 16 September the airline will boost its Bangkok-Chiang Mai service to double daily, while adding four daily flights to Phuket – two from Bangkok and two from Chiang Mai.

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