BKK-LHR A380 Route (no longer) coming soon
 

Indeed availability is loaded into the reward calendar for 2014.

Source: Bloomberg News

Thai Airways to Add London A380 Route When Next Jets Arrive

Thai Airways International Pcl said it plans to operate the Airbus SAS A380 superjumbo to London’s Heathrow airport following delivery of its fifth and sixth aircraft later this year.

Thai can’t be more specific about when the A380 will serve Europe’s busiest air hub because delivery dates from Airbus aren’t certain, U.K. and Ireland General Manager Khun Wit Kitchathorn said in an interview yesterday in London.

The A380s will substitute for one of two services provided by Boeing Co. (BA) 747-400s that will return to the London route this month after a year’s gap for refurbishment, he said. The 747’s cargo flexibility makes retention of one service desirable, with the jumbo regularly carrying outsize items such as Porsche and Ferrari sports cars that the Airbus would struggle to handle.

“Frequencies are the most important thing, and from that point of view I’d rather have three 747s serving London,” Kitchathorn said. “But the A380 is also a prestige aircraft so we’d welcome it of course.”

Thai’s next A380s are slated to arrive in October or November, Serena Kelly, its deputy sales manager, said in London at an event to publicize the 747 refurbishment, reiterating that the timings aren’t definite.

More Frequencies

Thai will reintroduce the Boeing jets to London from March 31, returning capacity on the route to almost 750 seats a day from 534 during a year of operations by Airbus A340-600s. Two planes are required to provide a single frequency because of the distance involved. A 747-A380 combination could seat 881 people.

London might even be able to support four daily frequencies if the aircraft deployed including smaller Boeing 777 planes, Kitchathorn said. A service to Manchester is another option.

Two daily flights to London split between an A380 and 747 would match Thai’s service to Frankfurt, the main focus for the carrier’s European transfer traffic via the network of Star Alliance partner Deutsche Lufthansa AG. (LHA) Thai’s first two A380s were deployed to provide the German service.

The Bangkok-based carrier will also operate a daily A380 service to Paris using its third and fourth A380s from the end of this month. The service is being cut from 10 frequencies a week because of the greater number of seats available on the double-decker superjumbo.

Thai’s Southeast Asian rivals Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) and Malaysian Airline System Bhd. (MAS) already fly the A380 to London.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Jasper in London at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at [email protected]

Presumably they are anticipating a BA reduction to BKK due to their Australian route realignment. But how many Porsches and Ferraris are being flown from London to Bangkok? This comment seems bizarre.

I ALWAYS check my Porsche.

Ferrari, meh, I take it as carry on.

TG may also benefit from BA's decision to go to a 3 class 777 service on the LHR:BKK route (i.e. no First class) from this winter.:td:

Just noticed a strange quirk. I have an award I'm keeping an eye on. On December 27, LHR-BKK, TG 911, shows on the Thai website that it will be flown by a 747. The United, website, however, has just switched to reflect that it's an A380. Very stranger contradiction.

380 is also showing on ANA Award search

TG910 is also showing as 380, this is worse than Apple rumours
1

I'm just confused...how can the data that's fed to *A have the plane type updated but not their own site.

Cos their website doesnt have live feeds from the backend database maybe?

Seems like there might be two datastreams. Kayak is also showing a 747, whereas ANA and UA show A380. Maybe it's StarNet versus what's pushed to other airlines. Weird though.

BKK-LHR A380 Route coming soon
 

see the link from the W13 timetable update

http://airlineroute.net/2013/05/24/tg-w13update1/

it shows 388 on LHR TG910/911 eff 01DEC

I just booked flights in Dec / Jan and on my reservation it shows 380 on Bkk to Lhr and Lhr to Bkk

Just snagged 2 award seats in F for April 2014 on BKK-LHR, with A380 showing on UA, LH and TG sites. Hopefully it's all sorted by then

Unfortunately, my LHR-BKK flight on Dec 7 now shows A340 instead of the 747 at time of booking.....still some hope this will change closer to actual date

Hi the news section Thai's UK website gives information about the A380 LHR-BKK schedule commencing 1 December 2013. I thought Flyertalk people might be interested to hear the answer to my question to Thai about whether the small upstairs economy section at the rear of the aircraft might be reserved for ROP Gold members asked Thai whether. Thai said :
"No it won't be reserved for ROP Gold members. Seat allocations on the upper deck will be on a first come first served basis for Q and higher class passengers. V and W class passengers will only be able to bookseats on the lower deck"
So now we know !
Regards