Thai Airways last week took delivery of its second factory-built Boeing 777-300ER. NYCAviation got a tour of the new jet ahead of its delivery flight from Seattle.
Photos: Thai Airways 777-300ER
Outfitted with beautiful fabrics in a variety of purple shades, the new planes seat up to 346 passengers in a two-class layout: 42 in Royal Silk Class and 304 Economy Class seats.
From front to back, in-flight entertainment is provided by Panasonic’s eX2 system, each loaded with 100 movies, 150 TV programs, 500 CD albums, 16 audio channels and 60 games. Of course, Business Class gets bigger screens: 15 inch versus the 10.5 inch displays in Economy.
If that’s not enough, you can connect to the internet, make voice calls and send and receive SMS texts with your personal devices.
Now about the seats themselves. In Royal Silk, all 42 EADS Sogerma-made seats connect to the aisle, making it easier to move about the cabin and providing a better feeling of freedom during long flights. When it’s time to rest, the biz class seats lie completely flat to 180-degrees. Upright, the seats offer 87-inches of pitch and 20-inches of width.
Economy Class isn’t too shabby either. The 304 Weber 5751 seats measure an industry-leading 18.5-inches wide, and legroom is respectable at 32-inches.
The Bangkok-based carrier ordered six 777-300ER’s from Boeing in August 2011. Thai also operates five 777-300ERs leased from India’s Jet Airways.