The Thai Airways Royal Barge Planes

Note: This is another one of the entries I posted at Wings900 and on my Flickr pages, and I seem to have overlooked doing the same thing on this blog. Better late than never.



The Royal Barge Procession is held in Thailand during very special occasions, usually during celebrations that have something to do with the king. It has a religious significance as well.

In 1999, in celebration of the king's 6th cycle (12 years = 1 birth cycle), Thai Airways painted three of its planes with the image of the two royal barges that are most significant to the current king. The two 747-4D7s, HS-TGJ and HS-TGO were painted with the image of the Royal Barge Suphannahong ('golden swan'). Its bow is adorned with the hongse (head of the swan, with jewels).

HS-TEK, an airbus A330-300, was then painted with the image of the only barge constructed under the current king, the Narai Song Suban. its bow is decorated with the statue of the god Narayana being carried by the Garuda.

In 2002, Thai Airways commissioned Herpa to produce two of the three specially painted planes.

Now we start with the Narai Song Subhan...
Herpa's version has a clear imprint of the Garuda, with the god Narayana behind it:

The pavilion has very intricate details. My camera failed to capture it, but I think it is much clearer in the previous picture.

Note the intricate design of the rear part of the boat design.

In contrast, the StarJets version, which they named simply as "Dragon Boat" has a brownish color.

Further, the pavilion is only a criss-cross pattern without the intricate design.

Now we come to Herpa's version of Suphannahong...

Herpa's version is very well-detailed.

Check out the royal pavilion; note its design.

The rear of the royal barge is very well detailed, too.

Starjets referred to their version simply as the "Royal Barge."

Compared to herpa's, the SJ version has a larger Hongse, and the color is too yellow. Note also, that SJ printed "HARIPHUNCHAL" as the name of the aircraft, when in fact it is "Hariphunchai."

Herpa on the left, and SJ on the right:

And here comes that generic criss-cross again:

Last is the BigBird version...

It is simply too 'red.' Compare it with the SJ on the right.

Again, the generic criss-cross:

Both 747-400s have been repainted into the new mica colors of Thai. Undoubtedly, the Narai Song Subhan's days painted on the A330 are numbered.