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Thai Lion Air (IATA code: SL) was established by the partnership between an Indonesian-based airline company, Lion Air, and its Thai affiliates. It began its operation as a low-cost airline on 4 December 2013, and since then has served more than 20 routes from and to 10 airports across Asia. Thai Lion Air’s headquarter is located on the Vibhavadi Rangsit St., Sanam Bin, in the district of Don Muang, Bangkok. It uses the Don Muang Airport as its main hub. During the company’s three-year operation, Thai Lion Air has been able to record a fast-growing business. This company has been registered in IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), the applicable safety standards for an international airline company. Its promising performance relates highly to the earlier success of its parent company, Lion Air. With its "Freedom to Fly" slogan, Thai Lion Air enables passengers of all backgrounds to fly to various locations at affordable fares. Despite flying Economy with a low-cost carrier, passengers may still have an enjoyable flight experience. Thai Lion Air does not offer in-flight entertainment, but passengers can buy souvenirs and merchandise from the attendants on board. Several merchandises offered by the airline are caps, Lion Air dolls and stuffed figures, warm blankets, and neck pillows to support the passengers’ comfort. Aside from its basic passenger service, Thai Lion Air also offers their own privilege programs: such as Lion Fast and Boarding Pass Privilege. Lion Fast is meant for passengers who would like to get priority access to check-in, seat preferences, and baggage handling. Meanwhile, Thai Lion Air’s Boarding Pass Privilege is the result of a partnership between the airline and various Thai-based commercial services. This program allows passengers to get discounts or special treatments at numerous places of stay, restaurants, tourist and shopping centers, and even hospitals, only by showing their Thai Lion Air boarding pass. Thai Lion Air provides it passengers with a cabin baggage allowance of one item, weighing no more than 7 kg with a maximum dimension of 40 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm. Domestic flight passengers will get a checked baggage allowance of 15 kg. Meanwhile, for international flights, passengers will receive a free baggage allowance of 20 kg. As with the common airline rule, Thai Lion Air passengers are expected to arrive at the airport on time for check-in and then enter the departure gate according to their flight schedule. Late passengers may be denied boarding, and refund on such basis would not be applicable. After checking in, passengers must present themselves at the departure gate at the latest 30 minutes before the departure time. Passengers who do not manage to enter the gate in time will not be permitted to board the flight.

Thai Lion Air’s history cannot be separated from the genesis of its parent company, Lion Air. Indonesian-based Lion Air is considered the biggest private airline in its home country, in terms of the routes it serves and the number of its passengers per year. Trading under the name of Lion Mentari Group Ltd., it is also the second biggest low-cost carrier in Southeast Asia after AirAsia, and the second biggest Indonesian airline after Garuda Indonesia. In 2004, only a few years after its birth, Lion Air received the Best Brand Award from prominent Indonesian marketing magazine SWA. This award was given based on a survey of 6,000 respondents from five big cities across the country, as conducted by survey company MARS. According to the survey, Lion Air gained 33.6% votes when it comes to customer satisfaction. It gained the highest score index among other airlines on the subject. Transforming into one of the biggest players in Indonesia’s airline industry, Lion Air intended to serve more customers and expand its service area. It began to seriously examine prospects of subsidiaries in countries outside Indonesia. It took only six months for Lion Air and its Thai partners to close the agreement to found Thai Lion Air. Thai Lion Air debuted not long after Malindo Air, Lion Air’s Malaysia-based subsidiary company, began its operation in March 2013. Thai Lion Air operated its first flight from Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok to Chiang Mai Airport. Right on the next day, Thai Lion opened new flights from and to other domestic airports in Thailand. Less than a week later, on 10 December 2013, Thai Lion Air signed a partnership agreement with Malindo to provide and facilitate flights from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, as well as to establish other international routes from both Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. During its early days, Thai Lion Air only served one domestic flight and two international flights every day. International routes were operated from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Meanwhile, its domestic flight was operated from the Don Mueang International Airport to Chiang Mai, the second biggest airport in Thailand serving both domestic and international routes. Not long after, Thai Lion Air added a second hub at Hat Yai International Airport. As a result, Thai Lion Air managed to serve five routes on domestic flights, using Don Muang International Airport as the main hub, Hat Yai International Airport as the second hub, and Chiang Mai International Airport, Hua Hin Airport, and Surat Thani Airport as its destinations. For its international flights, Thai Lion Air provided five routes to two countries. Three of them are operated to Indonesia through Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Jakarta, Kuala Namu International Airport, Medan, and Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali. Two other international flights were operated to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, more specifically to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Sultan Abdul Aziz Airport. In 2015, Thai Lion Air added more fleets to reach other areas around the globe. From a mere 10 routes in the past, Thai Lion Air now serves 22 flight routes for a domestic trip among other airports in Thailand, as well as international flights to several countries across Asia and Southeast Asia. For domestic flights from Don Muang International Airport, Thai Lion provides flight services to Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Surat Thani, Krabi, Hat Yai, Phuket, Khon Kaen, Phitsanulok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, and Trang. Three other routes are operated from Hat Yai Airport to Udon Thani, and from Chiang Mai Airport to Surat Thani and Hat Yai. Meanwhile, for its international flights, Thai Lion Air now provides flight services to Singapore, Jakarta, Yangon, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanchang, Nanjing, and Hanoi. All flights are operated from Don Muang International Airport. Thai Lion Air is the newest low-cost airline in Thailand which came from an older parent company. Thai Lion competes with Thai AirAsia (a subsidiary of Malaysia’s AirAsia) and Nok Air (a subsidiary of Thai Airways). All three companies choose the Don Muang International airport as their hub in Thailand. Similarly, all also place their headquarters in the Don Muang district. Although the competition is tighter than ever, Thai Lion Air can remain confident that it can rise above its rivals. The airline is expected to contribute up to 49% of Lion Air’s total income. Such expectation comes based on the fact that Malindo Air has reached the stock percentage of 51% when the company had only been operating for six months. Today, its parent company Lion Air has relied more on Thai Lion Air’s aircraft and operations—rather than Malindo Air’s—to serve passengers’ demand for international flights from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur or Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. Such decision is made after Malindo ceased providing its flight services to Thailand. The company now focuses on providing international flight services from Malaysia to all countries in Southeast Asia and certain other countries in East Asia. Malindo’s business direction gives Thai Lion Air an obvious advantage, since it can focus to serve the passengers in Thailand-Malaysia and Malaysia-Thailand routes instead of competing with a fellow subsidiary of Lion Air Group. In January 2017, Thai Lion Air decided to halt its service of providing free snacks and soft drinks for passengers on board after a few considerations. However, the termination of this service does not make the airline company compromise on other services. Thai Lion Air still, for instance, provides free baggage allowance for its passengers—something notable for low-cost carriers. This enables passengers to enjoy their trip with a reasonable price, without having to worry about carrying too many bags for their journey or having to pay an extra fee. Thai Lion Air also provides web check-in facility on its site for passengers who want to save their time at the check-in counter. Committing not only to its passengers’ convenience, but also high safety standards, Thai Lion Air passed and completed the requirements to obtain the IOSA certification, an audit designed to evaluate operational management and control system of an airline company, since September 2015. The certificate evaluation is based on more than 900 international flight safety standard rules and flight requirement practices, which are divided into eight scoring subjects. Thai Lion Air was supervised for a whole period of 24 months before obtaining its IOSA certification. When it was first launched, Thai Lion operated an ATR 42/72 aircraft to serve several short-haul trips, accommodating a limited number of passengers. Today, however, ATR 42/72 has been replaced with two newest airplane types in its flight services: Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737-900ER. Based on the airline’s release from February 2017, the number of aircraft currently operated by Thai Lion Air is 25, consisting of eight Boeing 737-800 and 17 Boeing 737-900ER. On the next phase of the company’s expansion, the number of aircrafts flying in and around Thailand is expected to reach between 70 and 80. Each aircraft will be expected to fly at least twice a day.