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Thai Airways
Name of the national airline of
Thailand, which was established in 1988 but already operated since
1960 under the name Thai Airways Company, Thailand's then domestic
carrier in a joint venture with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS).
The carrier's first commercial flight was
from Bangkok to Hong Kong and
took place on
1 May 1960
using
a Douglas DC-6B, which was named
Sri Sunthon
by King
Bhumiphon
and appears on a Thai postage stamp issued in
2010
to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of
this inaugural flight
(fig.).
During this period, the aircraft of the
Thai Airways Company were painted (fig.) with the
name
Thai International (fig.),
which later is changed to just
THAI (fig.).
Whereas some interpret the Thai Airways' logo to be a graphic
representation of a Purple Crown
Flower, i.e. the stamen of the
Giant Indian Milkweed
(fig.),
with the
petals removed and known in Thai as
dok rak,
literally 'love flower'
(fig.),
the logo in fact represents a
jampah
or
champak
flower (fig.).
The Thai Airways' logo (fig.)
was created by Walter Landor
Associates and
is in use since 1975.
It consists of the colours purple,
magenta and gold. With the comprehensive rebranding of THAI,
launched in April 2005, the existing jampah flower has been
retained, but the logo was redefined with a modified palette of
vibrant colours, including a darker hue of purple. The trademark
logo is used everywhere, from the aircraft and company vehicles, to
ticket offices and signage at airports.
The
trademark
colours were
chosen to incorporate
elements of Thai tradition, with gold referring to the many temples
and palaces, and the rich colours of purple and magenta representing
Thailand's tropical orchids and lustrous
silk,
the latter also pointing to the
Thai Airways'
slogan, i.e. Smooth as Silk.
In Thai, the national
flag carrier is known as kahn bin thai/garnbin thai (การบินไทย) and in
English it is called Thai Airways International (fig.), although it is in
speech usually referred to as simply Thai Airways (fig.)
and since 2005 as THAI.
See also TRAVEL PICTURE,
PANORAMA PICTURE,
and
THEMATIC STREET LIGHT (1) and
(2).
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