Thai Smile (Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) expects to have ceased operations and transferred its aircraft and employees to parent entity Thai Airways International (TG, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) by January 2024. Thai Airways CEO Chai Eamsiri confirmed the timeline to The Nation newspaper last week.

By January, all twenty A320-200s used by Thai Smile will transfer to Thai. According to ch-aviation fleets data, nine of those 20 planes have already transferred. When the process is complete, Eamsiri says Thai will notify the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand, and this will trigger the cancellation of Thai Smile's air operator's licence. However, Eamsiri says Thai may retain rights to the Thai Smile brand.

The ch-aviation schedules module reveals Thai Airways has already begun operating the transferred A320-200s on routes formerly operated by Thai Smile, including on some or all services between Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and each of:

Eamsiri says the primary reason for integrating Thai Smile into Thai Airways is to improve aircraft utilisation and contribute to the overall profitability of Thai Airways. He says Thai Smile had utilised each A320-200 for about nine hours each day. Thai Airways intends to have each plane in the air for around 13 hours each day. By better managing the A320 fleet, Eamsiri says he expects to reduce the fleet's day-to-day operating costs by approximately 20%.