From March 31, Thai Airways will be operating its revamped B747-400 with new economy, business and first class seats between London Heathrow and Bangkok.
The jumbo jet will be replacing Thai’s A340-600, which is configured with eight fully flat first class seats, 60 angled lie-flat, 167 degree, business class seats and 199 economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.
The enhanced 374-seat B747 features 325 economy class seats in a ten-across 3-4-3 layout, with 30 degrees of recline, 32-34 inches of legroom, 16.3-17.5 inches of width and 10.6-inch, audio-video on-demand, seat-back screens. The old economy seat on this aircraft did not offer individual seat-back screens.
The 40-person Royal Silk business class cabin will be arranged 2-2 (26 on the upper deck and 14 on the lower) with 167-degree angled-lie flat shell seats with a 60 to 62-inch pitch, 20-inch width and 15.4-inch in-flight entertainment screen.
The nine Royal first class seats will be fully flat (180-degree recline) with 79-80 inches of legroom, 21 inches of width and 23-inch screens. The product was designed by Priestmangoode and has been built to create a sense of privacy, with sliding screens that separate the seat from the aisle. Each “suite” sits alone, except for E and F in row three, which are a pair.
“The arrival of the B747 is just another stage in Thai’s massive long-term investment – 49 new and retrofitted aircraft have been introduced in the fleet between 2010 and 2013,” says a spokesman for the airline.
The twice-daily service sees London flights depart at 1230, arriving in Bangkok at 0605 the following day, and at 2130, arriving in Bangkok 1505 the following day. The return flights leave Bangkok at 0015, arriving in London at 0620 the same day, and at 1330, arriving in London 1935 the same day. Flight time between the two cities is about 11 hours and 35 minutes.
Visit thaiairways.com.
Report by Jenny Southan
