Airline brand renewal and financial difficulties Using Airbus A340-500s it acquired in 2005, THAI commenced nonstop flights from Bangkok to New York, its first nonstop services to North America. The airline later converted existing one-stop services to Los Angeles into nonstop services using the same aircraft type.even though the airline had been able to fill 80% of the seats.
The Airbus A340s used have been phased out using the Boeing 777-300ER for the Bangkok-Seoul-Los Angeles route. Although the previous A340 used for nonstop services was not subject to ETOPS, the phasing in of the 777 with one-stop service (with the 330 minute rule) will be indefinite for years to come; the airline has no plans to purchase the Boeing 747-8 for trans-Pacific routes since Thai Airways is operating the Airbus A380