Aviation History
Aviation in Thailand (then Siam) began with public demonstration flights around 1911 and quickly led to the founding of one of Asia's earliest air forces and one of the world's oldest continuously operating airports, Don Mueang. Domestic and international carriers developed separately for decades before being unified into a single flag carrier, Thai Airways International, which became a founding member of the Star Alliance. The airline expanded into a major long-haul network carrier through the late 20th century but suffered severe financial distress culminating in a 2020 bankruptcy filing amid the COVID-19 collapse in travel demand. A multi-year court-supervised rehabilitation followed, with the carrier returning to the stock market in 2025. Thailand's aviation sector today also includes a large low-cost segment (Thai AirAsia, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air) serving its major tourism industry.
Early aviators staged Thailand's first public aeroplane demonstration flights around 1911, an event later commemorated as Thai National Aviation Day.
Don Mueang, near Bangkok, was established as a military airfield in the 1910s and grew into one of the world's oldest continuously operating airports.
Thai Airways Company was established to operate domestic routes within Thailand, predating the later international carrier.
Thai Airways International was established as a joint venture with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), which held a minority stake and provided operating expertise, to build an independent international carrier.
The government merged Thai Airways Company (domestic) and Thai Airways International into a single national flag carrier, Thai Airways International.
Thai Airways was one of five airlines that founded Star Alliance in 1997, one of the first global airline alliances.
Thai Airways filed for court-supervised rehabilitation in 2020 after accumulating heavy debt, following decades of financial strain and the pandemic-era collapse in air travel.
Thai Airways completed its rehabilitation plan and returned to the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 2025.
Thai Airways International · Bangkok Airways · Thai AirAsia · Nok Air · Thai Lion Air
General aviation-history sources (Wikipedia, airline histories, news coverage of Thai Airways' 2020-2025 rehabilitation); exact 1911 demonstration-flight details and Thai Airways' post-2025 financial status may be refined by more specific sources.