The whole world is connected by roads, railways, waterways and airlines. Airline is the lifeline of world today as it provides air transport services for freight and passengers. In this article, we will elaborate the difference Emirates, Thai Air and China Southern Airlines.

Emirates versus Thai Air versus China Southern Airlines:

Emirates

Emirates is a state-owned flag carrier airline owned by the parent company The Emirates Group. It is based in Garhoud, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the largest airline in the Middle East that operates more than 3600 flights per week. Thai Airways

Thai Airways International Public Co., Ltd. is the flag carrier airline of Thiland. It trades as THAI and is a founding member of the Star Alliance. It’s headquarter is in Chatuchak, Bangkok.

China Southern Airlines

China Southern Airlines Company Limited is one of China’s ‘big three’ airlines. It is an alliance of SkyTeam. Its parent company is China Southern Air Holding. It is Asia’s largest airline in fleet size. ‘Kapok’ flower is the logo of the airline. It is the city flower of Guangzhou.

History

Emirates was founded in 1985 with backing from Dubai’s Royal family as Gulf Air began to cut back its services to Dubai in mid-1980s. It was started by taking company’s first aircraft on wet-lease from Pakistan International Airlines.

Thai Airways came up in 1960 as a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines and Thai Airways Company. The purpose of this venture was to create an international wing for the Thai Airways Company. Thai Airways’ first revenue flight was on 1 May 1960.

China Southern Airline came into being as a result of decentralisation of CAAC in 1984. Due to this, regional airlines like Air China, China South-west Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines were formed.

Founded

Emirates was founded on 25 March 1985. It commenced its operations on 25 October 1985. It has been providing its services to us for 35 years now.

THAI was founded 29 March 1960 and was merged with Thai Airways Company on 1 April 1988. It has been providing airline services for 60 years now.

China Southern Airline was founded on 1 July 1988. It has been providing airline services since 31 years now.

Key People

Emirates is headed by chairman and CEO Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. He is the president of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority. Tim Clark is the president of Emirates. He is an economic graduate from the University of London and has served as the Managing Director of SriLankan Airlines till 2008.

THAI is headed by two persons. Chaiyapruk Didyasarin is the chairman of THAI. Chakkrit Parapuntakul is the acting president of THAI.

China Southern Airline is headed by vice chairman and president Tan wangeng.

Hub

Emirates’ hub is Dubai International Airport. Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport operates 3,600 flights Emirates flights per week.

THAI primarily operates from Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, Thailand.

China Southern Airline has 3 main hubs and 4 secondary hubs. Main hubs are: Beijing capital, Beijing Daxing and Guangzhou. The secondary hubs are: Chongquing, Shanghai-Pudong, Shenzhen and Urumqi.

Number of employees and net income

Emirates is a major service provider. It had 69371 employees by March 2019.  Its estimated revenue was 13.3 billion dollars in November 2018. Its estimated net income was 62 million dollars in 2018. It is the fourth largest airline in terms of scheduled revenue passenger-kilometres flown.

THAI had 22054 employees in 2018 excluding the number of pilots i.e. 1438.  Its estimated revenue was 188954 million baht in 2019. Its estimated net income was 12042 million baht in 2019.

China Southern Airline had 100000 employees in 2016. Its estimated revenue was 127.806 billion CN in 2017. Its estimated net income was 90156 billion CN in 2017.

Destinations

Emirates has a network of over 161 destinations in over 85 countries across six continents. It codeshares with 26 airlines throughout the world.

Thai Airways codeshares with 28 airlines including one of its subsidiaries Thai Smile. It has a network of 4 domestic destinations and 59 international destinations in 34 countries.

China Southern Airline flies to 216 destinations. The international destinations are 193 in 35 different countries worldwide.

Fleet

Emirates has a fleet size of more than 250 aircrafts. It has the largest fleet of Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircrafts. It has a A319 used as an executive jet.

Thai Airways has 80 aircrafts in its fleet. Out of these, 15 are Airbus A330-300, 12 are Airbus A350-900, 6 are Airbus A380-800. It also has Boeing aircrafts i.e. it has 7 Boeing 747-400, 6 Boeing 777-200, 6 Boeing 777-200ER, 14 Boeing 777-300ER and many more.

China Southern Airline has the largest fleet size in Asia. It has Airbus A319-100, Airbus A320-200, Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737 MAX 8, Comac C919, Comac ARJ21, Embraer 190 and many other aircrafts.

Frequent-flyer Program

Emirates Skywards is the frequent-flyer program offered by Emirates. It was launched in the year 2000. There are 4 tiers-Blue, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The tier goes up as the customer travels more miles with Emirates.

Thai Airways’ frequent-flyer program is named as Royal Orchid Plus. Over two million people has its membership around the world. There are 4 tiers in the program: Member, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Up-gradation in tier can be achieved by earning Q Miles-Qualifying miles.

China Southern Airline’s frequent-flyer program is called as Sky Pearl Club. It is divided into 3 tiers: Member, Silver and Gold. It allows FFP mileage to passengers travelling in SkyTeam member airlines.

Accidents and incidents

Emirates have experienced various incidents of aircrafts but none with passenger or crew fatalities.

Thai Airways has met with many accidents since its inception. On 30June 1967, Thai Airways International Flight 601 crashed into harbour waters in a tropical rainstorm. This fatal accident resulted in the death of all crew and 24 passengers. Most recent accident happened on 8 October 2018 when a Boeing 747-400 had a runway excursion. Luckily, none was injured or hurt.

China Southern Airlines has met with several accidents. Most recent accident happened on 5 January 2018. China Southern Boeing 777-300ER and Kuwait Airways Boeing 777 caused damaged during a blizzard.

Conclusion

All airlines have the sole purpose of providing the best services to their passengers. Emirates, Thai Air and China Southern Airlines are the best in their fields of speciality and provide world-class comfort to passengers. Before booking a flight one should pay attention to one’s budget and safety.
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