Thai airways international was founded in 1960 as a joint venture between Thailand ’s domestic carrier , thai airways company ( tac ) and Scandinavian airlines system ( sas ) with the Scandinavian carrier initially providing a 30% share capital of two million baht. Sas also provided operations , managerial and marketing expertise , with training assistance aiming at building a fully independent national airline within the shortest possible time. Thai nationals , through training and experience , were gradually able to assume full managerial responsibility and the number of expatriate staff duly reduced until , in 1987, expatriates accounted for less than one percent of staff based in Thailand.