This guy was traveling from Chicago to Bangkok when he spotted what some people call the ‘Death Row’ of Thai Airways.
It’s probably one of those things that only aviation geeks are familiar with, but it’s a well-known story, mainly because the aircraft are rotting away in plain sight.
Bangkok Airport has been used as a graveyard for Thai Airways aircraft for a few years.
There’s only one glaring exception.
This is why so many aircraft are rotting away here
Years before the pandemic, Thai Airways bit off more than it could chew by investing in a fleet of double-decker giants.
Airbus A380s were already expensive to fly before the pandemic, and when Covid hit in 2020, Thai Airways grounded them immediately.
By the time travel returned, the airline realized the A380s were too thirsty for fuel and too hard to fill to be profitable, which is why they officially retired the entire fleet and put them up for sale.
During this time, Thai Airways underwent court-supervised ‘business rehabilitation’ – Thailand’s version of Chapter 11 – and moved to sell or write off nearly half of its diverse fleet.
The situation, as you can see from the reel shared by Diecastjames, is pretty dramatic.
James, a frequent flyer and Instagram creator, was landing in Bangkok from Chicago when he spotted dozens of neglected A380s.
We actually had a chat with James, and he told us something interesting.
“I spotted four A380s left. I saw three on the main storage taxiway but there’s also a fourth one that’s being stripped out near the hangar. And you can’t see that in the video,” he told Supercar Blondie.
It sounds like Thai Airways is successfully getting rid of these aircraft, which is a shame.
A, because it’s crazy to think these aircraft will probably never fly again and B, because it’s even crazier when you realize these planes must’ve spent a very limited amount of hours in the air.
Pity.
One Thai Airways aircraft was saved
So many aircraft have been either labeled as write-offs or will be soon.
But one was saved.
A while back, one of these A380s – HS-TUE – was deemed no longer airworthy, dismantled, and then reassembled as a roadside attraction in a place called Rayong, around 120 miles south of the capital, Bangkok.
A photographer called Dirk Grothe shared images of the plane in Rayong, Thailand, and, based on reviews and data from Google Maps, the aircraft is now marked as a ‘night market’ in some platforms and as a ‘restaurant’ in other apps.
James had to something to say about this, too.
Apparently, he’s also tried visiting the restaurant and he had an update for us.
“It’s still pretty empty inside. It is being refurbished but it isn’t open yet,” he told Supercar Blondie.
Either way, it’ll never fly again, but at least it hasn’t been completely forgotten, destroyed, or abandoned.