THAI welcomes first A380 aircraft

BANGKOK, September 30 (TNA) - Thai Airways International has welcomed its first state-of-the-art Airbus A380 series aircraft at its airport in Bangkok. The TG8936 special flight from France arrived at Suvarnabhumi International Airport Saturday. It was the first of six planes Thai Airways had purchased from aircraft manufacturing giant Airbus to replace its aging Boeing 747 fleet. The first plane, codenamed by the Thai royal family as "Sri Ratana," would start its inaugural flight on October 6, from Bangkok to Hong Kong and Singapore. Thai Airways said it expected its new fleet of A380s to help increase its ridership and revenue by 10 percent. Currently, it had served up to 18 million passengers per year, trading in an income of 220 billion baht, or 7.1 billion US dollars. (TNA)