Thai Queen Suthida goes solo in fighter jet for the first time

Thailand’s Queen Suthida has flown a Gripen fighter jet solo for the first time, the royal household revealed yesterday, watched by her husband, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, himself a keen pilot.

The 48-year-old queen took off in a single-seat JAS 39C from a military air base in southern Surat Thani Province on Thursday, footage released by the royal household showed.

The outing followed weeks of simulator training at the base and about 10 hours in a two-seat Gripen, media reports said.

Thai Queen Suthida gestures as she made her first solo flight in a Gripen fighter aircraft in Surat Thani, Thailand, on Thursday.

Photo: Royal Household Bureau via AFP

A former Thai Airways flight attendant who married the king in 2019, days before his coronation, Suthida began flying in 2010 and has logged nearly 1,190 hours.

She regularly flies as copilot to the king on royal trips, including landing at Bhutan’s notoriously difficult Paro airport, the reports said.

Thailand already operates a squadron of Gripen C/D fighters made by Sweden’s Saab, and last year signed a deal for three Gripen E jets and one Gripen F worth about US$556 million, with deliveries due by 2030.

After she landed, the king handed the queen a bouquet and pinned a Golden Gripen Order patch on her left arm, which reports said made her Thailand’s first female Gripen pilot.