A silver service waiter arranges a selection of gourmet food on plates of fine china. Pristine silverware is laid out ready for guests whose meals are accompanied by champagne and exclusive wines.

A scene not unexpected in a luxury hotel restaurant, but also one not often encountered at 30,000 feetuntil now.

An increasing number of international airlines are beginning to extend exactly this kind of first class service to their Chinese customers.

Last Thursday, Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (TG), the national carrier of the Kingdom of Thailand, launched a daily first class service on its Beijing-Bangkok route.

And this is just the latest development for a company which boasts a long association with China. In 1981, TG expanded its services to cover South China's Guangdong Province, as government officials, business people and others began travelling abroad.

"Our luxury service has great potential in China," says May Shi, a TG sales manager.

Chinese customers of TG's first class service will mainly be senior government officials and entrepreneurs, she adds.

"TG operation is profitable in China," Pruet Boobphakam, general manager of TG's China operation, tells China Business Weekly.

Although Boobphakam will not give exact figures, he says TG's business is getting stronger and commanding an increasing market share.

"We want to be second behind the national flag carrier (Air China) in every area in China," he says.

Business is tough for TG with many competitors offering discount fares, he adds.

The company's major competitors, says Boophakam, are Air China, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines (SIA).

"We will strengthen our competitiveness through TG's first class service to Chinese customers. It is the first time we have launched the service in the Chinese market, but we already have worldwide experience of providing first class service," the general manager says.

TG's new first class services, available on board a Boeing 747, include eight luxurious 180 sleeper seats (subject to aircraft version), gourmet dining, and a wide and exclusive selection of in-flight entertainment and prestige benefits. Travellers are also able to access the Royal First Class Lounge, which was ranked 1st in the world by Skytrax 2004/05.

"China is such a potential market that we have full confidence in the operation's success," he said. TG now operates 50 flights weekly for the Chinese market, linking with the country's six big cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Xiamen, Kunming and Chengdu.

With an MBA degree from Thailand's Chulalongkorn University, Boobphakam joined TG as cabin crew in 1984. He has since risen through the ranks from management trainee to head of TG's Beijing operation, via an assistant general manager positions in Germany and general manager position for Stockholm, Sweden and Malaysia. He took his current position in Beijing in 2004, and now directs 151 employees for TG's China-based operation.

TG's staff in China almost equal the payroll size of the company's Australian operation. Both China and Australia are major overseas markets for Thai Airways.

Management

"The thing that impressed me most was the efficiency of employees in TG's China-based operation," Boobphakam says.

Chaiya Suvaphab has worked with TG as accounting manager of its China-based operation for years. "I don't feel homesick although am a long way from Thailand," he said.

"Our company has a welfare policy that encourages its staff to be highly devoted to their jobs. Under the policy, for example, I can enjoy six free return trips home each year," Suvaphab says. "I often fly home at weekends and after using up the free air travel, I still enjoy a 90 per cent discount on TG."

"Chinese staff also get one free overseas TG flight each year," TG's sales manager May Shi says.

After approval from the Thai government, TG listed its shares on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in 1991.

The main purposes of listing on the SET and offering shares to the public were to obtain the additional funds needed to keep the airline competitive in the international market and to allow the general public and TG employees to become shareholders in Thailand's national flag carrier.

Thai Airways International was founded in 1960 as a joint venture between Thailand's domestic carrier, Thai Airways Company, and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) with the Scandinavian carrier initially providing a 30 per cent share capital of 2 million Baht (US$100,000).

On April 1, 1977, after a 17-year capital participation partnership with SAS, the Thai government bought out SAS' remaining 15 per cent holding and Thai became fully owned by the Thai people. TG says that its operation has achieved profitability every year for the last 40 consecutive years.

Four years after the Thai government's stake purchase, the State-owned company took off for the Chinese market.

In 1981, China had just begun its opening-to-the-outside policy and most Chinese knew nothing about Thailand other than the rice imported from the neighbouring country.

Thailand was among the earliest international destinations to accept Chinese travellers under bilateral governmental tourism agreements, and Thai Airways has, to a large extent, been a bridge between the two countries for tourism and cultural exchange.

"At first, what made me very curious and eager to know about Thailand was the palatable rice from the country, which was different from the China-grown variety. That was more than two decades ago," says Liu Lifei, a white colour employee at a foreign-invested company in Beijing.

"Now, I often go to Thai restaurants in Beijing. I love Thai food. I hope I can go to the country someday by Air China or TG when I have a long vacation," she smiles.

As for customers' views about TG's top class service, it is not difficult to find dozens of their comments on Skytrax's www.airlinequality.com. One comment from passenger Tom Passey, who flew first class from Tokyo to Bangkok in Thai's new Airbus A340-600 on October 21, reads: "Once Thai gets their new product across all their long range airplanes, they are going to be quite unbeatable - makes SIA look dated, and Thai service is of course a lot more friendly and genuine than the SIA robots!"

(China Daily 12/05/2005 page3)