Story ID: 
Daher's TBM 930 Enters Service in Asia
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Repeat customer Anutin Charvirakul took delivery of the TBM 930 in Thailand.
Word Count: 185
Daher has delivered the first Asia-bound TBM 930 to a customer in Bangkok. The aircraft entered service in Asia less than a year after Daher unveiled the model. Daher also has delivered the newest member of the TBM line to customers in Europe and the U.S.

The first Asian customer is Anutin Charnvirakul, who previously owned a TBM 850. In December, Daher ferried the TBM 930 from its Tarbes, France headquarters to Bangkok, with stopovers in Corfu, Greece; Aqaba, Jordan; Fujairah, UAE; and Nagpur, India. The aircraft averaged 277.5 knots and 41.6 gallons per hour during the 5,914-nm trip. The ferry trip launched after a ritual Thai Buddhist blessing.

Charnvirakul accepted the new model after accruing 900 flight hours over four years in the TBM 850. Once the 930 received its certificate of airworthiness from the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand, he flew the aircraft on a volunteer heart transplant delivery mission for the Thai Red Cross.

 Charnvirakul, the former deputy minister of public health and commerce, is the leader of the country’s Bhumjaithai Party and chairman of STP&I Public Company.