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Nok Air (IATA code: DD), or “นกแอร์" as written in Thai, is a Thai low-cost airline operating mostly domestic services out of Bangkok's Don Muang International Airport. The name is taken from "nok" (นก), the Thai word for bird. Nok Air is registered under Nok Airlines Public Company Limited. It is a joint venture between public and private investors. Besides Thai Airways, which owns 39% of the airline’s shares and Nattapol Chulangkul who owns 10%, the top ten holders are Taweechat Chulangkul with 3.59%, Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited with 3.44%, and Nok Air’s CEO, Patee Sarasin, with 3.44% of the shares. The rest, who hold less than 2% of the shares, includes Credit Suisse AG Singapore Branch, Suwit Sampattanavorachai, Nurak Mahattana-anon, Thai NVDR Co, Ltd., and Adithep Phisarnbutr. Campaigning themselves as professional and friendly, Nok Air portrays those aspects in a truly out-of-the-box way. The fun and friendly cabin crew routine are shown both internally and externally with all marketing activities aimed towards engaging customers. On the inside, Nok Air tries to be more open-minded and transparent towards their staffs, while on the outside, Nok Air not only presents itself as the passengers’ flight buddy, but also treats them as kings and queens. Headquartered in Bangkok, Nok Air has 30 sales offices spreading across all airports in their destinations. Besides Bangkok, Nok Air has its second headquarter in Chiang Mai. Nok Air’s first slogan was “Every flight has a smile—We Fly Smiles”, which had been ingrained in the Thai people’s smile. However, in June 2016, Nok Air unveiled a new slogan, “Smiling Across Asia” as they launched bigger ambitions. Nok Air CEO Patee Sarasin said that, "In the future, if the link system with the partner airlines is complete, Nok Air will be able to link passenger bookings to other airlines for over 160 destinations in the Asia Pacific region.” Meanwhile, Nok Air itself will be focusing on opening more routes to China, due to an increased number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand. The new slogan hints at Nok Air's strategy of becoming a dominant regional carrier, especially in Asia Pacific. Its ambition to expand its destinations throughout Asia Pacific is shown by its purchase of 15 new Boeing 737s. By doing so, Nok Air will be the first Thai carrier to operate the 737 Max, according to Boeing. With the total of 603 flights per week, both domestic and international, Nok Air carries 6.6 million people on its flights. As the leading airline for domestic flights in Thailand, Nok Air has received various award nominations. At World Travel Awards, Nok Air was nominated as Asia's Leading Low-Cost Airline in 2007, 2012, and 2017. It was also nominated as Asia's Leading Most Efficient Low-Cost Airline in 2016 and 2017. Its cabin crew were nominated as Asia's Leading Low-Cost Airline Cabin Crew in 2017, and on the 8th Annual On-time Performance Service Awards in 2016 by Flightstats.com, Nok Air placed 8th among 28 airlines in the Low-Cost Airlines category, with 79.87% of its flights being on time. Nok Air provides two kinds of in-flight entertainment, free WiFi on selected flights, and Nok Café for all Bombardier Q400 NextGen flights. Onboard WiFi allows its passenger to enjoy 3G-like connectivity of up to 8 mbps. Meanwhile, Nok Café serves 4 ‘Nespresso’, which consist of Cappuccino, Café Latte, Café Espresso, and Americano. Complimentary snacks such as bread roll and mineral water are provided for all passengers. However, passengers who would like to buy refreshments can purchase it at Nok Kanom, which serves various snacks and beverages, such as chips, chocolate candy, cup ramen, coffee, tea, juice, soda, and even beer. Nok Air passengers are required to check-in at the airport from two hours to 45 minutes before a domestic flight departure. For international flights, check-in counters are open three hours prior departure time and close one hour before departure time. Passengers must also present themselves at the boarding gate at least 40 minutes prior to departure time. If passengers fail to check-in or board in time, their tickets will not be refunded for any reason. During check-in at the airport, passengers can also check their baggage. Nok Air allows each passenger up to two pieces of checked baggage and one carry-on bag as cabin baggage. The carry-on baggage must not be heavier than 7 kilograms, and the size should not disrupt other passengers’ storage space. Meanwhile, checked baggage must not be heavier than 15 kg for domestic flights and 20 kg for international flights. Otherwise, passengers will be charged ฿300 per kilogram for domestic routes and ฿400 for international flights for the excess weight. Nok Promotion passengers can purchase baggage allowance of between 15 and 40 kg, while Nok Eco and Nok Flexi passengers can have between 5 to 25 kg of baggage allowance.

Nok Air was established in February 2004 by Sky Asia Co., Ltd. It began its operations on 23 July 2004, and flew its first international flight on 31 May 2007. At first, Nok Air only had 130 employees. In 2014, the number of its employees increased to 1,400 people. Patee Sarasin has remained CEO until today. Nok Air it the largest airline for domestic flights in Thailand with more than 41 destinations and 32 extended destinations served by its Nok Ride service. From the beginning, Nok Air has been operating separately from Thai Airways, its biggest shareholder. In 2014, Nok Air announced a partnership with Scoot Airline. This Singapore-based low-cost carrier would be Nok Air’s international route partner, carrying the latter’s passengers from Singapore to their next destinations. The collaboration formed NokScoot, a low-cost regional airline based in Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok. Besides to Singapore, NokScoot also serves international long-haul routes to countries, such as China, Japan, and Australia. International flights to Myanmar, however, are served by Nok Air. In the same year, Nok Air launched its new service – a complimentary onboard WiFi connectivity for selected domestic flights, which would be live from August 2014 and allow Nok Air passengers to enjoy 3G-Like connectivity of up to 8 mbps. The service is run in partnership with satellite operator Thaicom and Global Eagle Entertainment. Nevertheless, building a new airline is not without difficulties. In mid-February 2016, Nok Air canceled dozens of flights, and by March 2016, the airline had lost more than 20 of its pilots. In its 2015 financial report released on 26 February 2016, the airline confirmed that the turnover of pilots had passed the normal rate. Fewer than 200 pilots were working in Nok Air, and with that small number, the airline was in trouble. Hence, to solve its pilot shortage, the Thai Transport Minister gave Nok Air permission to increase the number of its foreign pilots to more than 40%. The more than 40% foreign pilot quota was authorized by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), and Nok Air was able to hire 32 new pilots, making its total number of pilots 212 at the end of February 2016. Getting hit by such problems did not stop Nok Air from spreading its wings. Together with other eight low-cost carriers (LCC), such as Jeju Air, NokScoot, Scoot Air, Tigerair Singapore, Tigerair Australia, Vanilla Air, and Cebu Pacific, Nok Air formed the world's first and largest LCC alliance, Value Alliance. The alliance allows customers to view, select, and book flights with the best available airfares from any of the airlines in a single transaction, directly from every partner’s website. Thanks to the groundbreaking technology developed by Air Black Box (ABB), the airlines can fly to more destinations and provide more routing options and greater convenience for the customers of each airline. In August 2016, Nok Air signed an educational MoU with Mae Fah Luang University on Education Cooperation and Human Development to support the growing demand of the aviation industry. They also signed an MoU with Civil Aviation Training Center (CATC) to develop professional courses for diploma and bachelor’s degree students. The courses were aimed to encourage students to become pilots, particularly Nok Air pilots. Today, Nok Air operates 43 round-trip flights from Don Muang to Ho Chi Minh City and Don Muang to Hanoi. Its routes have expanded to more than 160 destinations since it joined the Asia-Pacific low-cost carrier alliance, Value Alliance. With more than 5,000 employees and greater number of destinations than all airlines in Thailand serve, Nok Air is the largest domestic airline in Thailand.