THAI Airways (www.thaiairways.com) seems to love surprising us of late and not just with the state of their finances. The original rumor was that the national airline was going to follow up the launch of Thai Smiles, its mid-range subsidary (meaning it’s not very cheap), with another very-low-cost international carrier. But according to an online interview with Nok Air’s CEO, Patee Sarasin, it seems that THAI are dropping that plan and will just give the job to sister carrier Nok Air (www.nokair.com) who will start flying international destinations in early 2013, with China among the first routes.