Nok Air

History

The airline was established in February 2004 under Sky Asia Co., Ltd. and started operations on 23 July 2004. It had 130 employees in March 2007 and around 1,400 in 2014. Nok Air began its first international service on 31 May 2007, with daily flights to Bangalore, India.

Nok Air serves the largest number of domestic routes within Thailand (24 routes).

Since its inception, Nok Air has been operating largely independently from Thai Airways. This has led to some friction between the two companies. To gain greater control of Nok Air, Thai Airways has tried to purchase the shares of other shareholders, notably Krung Thai Bank. Although Thai Airways and Krung Thai Bank are both state enterprises under the control of the finance ministry, Krung Thai Bank refused to sell its shares in Nok Air to Thai Airways. The purchase would have lifted Thai Airways' stake in Nok Air from 39 to 49 percent.

Due to the preparation process to be listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), the company name had been changed to "Nok Airlines Company Limited" on 16 January 2006. Then, at its initial entry to Thailand's stock market, it was renamed "Nok Airlines Public Company Limited" (since 18 January 2013) with trading symbol "NOK".

In 2014 Nok Air announced a joint venture with Scoot Airlines (a low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines) to form NokScoot, a low-cost regional airline based out of Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok.

A new company slogan, "Smiling Across Asia" was unveiled in June 2016. It hints at Nok's strategy of becoming the dominant regional carrier.

Turbulence in 2016

Beginning in mid-February 2016, Nok Air cancelled numerous flights and issued several contradictory stories to explain the cancellations. The resignation of 17 pilots that followed a 14 February work stoppage by about 10 pilots and the 25 February announcement of an extension of flight cancellations 10 March cast doubt on the airline's competence.

There are issues of dissension between Nok Air management and cockpit staff, charges of nepotism, and questions about pilot loyalty. In its 2015 financial report released on 26 February, the airline acknowledged that the turnover of cockpit staff had exceeded the normal rate, well beyond expectations. There are just under 200 pilots working at Nok Air, considered too few for the scale of its operations.

The problem arose after Thailand tightened its aviation standards to comply with the European Aviation Safety Agency, disqualifying some pilots, Nok Air CEO Patee Sarasin told local media. Thailand is under pressure to improve its aviation standards after US authorities downgraded the country's aviation safety rating in December 2015.

To remedy its shortage of pilots, Nok may be permitted to boost the number of its foreign pilots beyond the 40 percent cap mandated by Thai law according to Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith. The 40 percent pilot quota is set by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), which aims to encourage airlines to employ more Thais as pilots. Pilots, according to the Labour Ministry, are on the list of 39 jobs where Thai nationals are preferred, jobs ranging from barbers and secretaries to certain fields of engineering. Nok in February hired 32 new pilots, bringing their total to 212.

Domestic

International

Miscellaneous

Nok Air also offers ferry services to domestic island destinations as well as domestic and cross border coach services to Vientiane and Pakse in Laos in conjunction with other tour operators.

Fleet

Nok Air operates more than 20 aircraft. As of 11 March 2016, the Nok Air fleet consisted of the following leased aircraft.