Bangkok - Thailand's domestic airlines resumed flights to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport Wednesday after anti-government protestors vacated the premises, ending a siege that has cut the capital off from commercial air traffic for a week. Suvarnabhumi received its first arrival, a Thai Airways International (THAI) domestic flight from Phuket, at 2:30 pm, shortly after the last protestors had left the facility about 1:10 pm.
THAI also scheduled six "special" flights to Sydney, New Delhi, Narita, Frankfurt, Seoul and Copenhagen from the airport Wednesday.
Bangkok Airways, a private Thai airline, operated its first Samui-Bangkok flight to Suvaranbhumi Wednesday afternoon.
THAI's board of directors announced Wednesday it will sue the leaders of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) for 20 billion baht (571 million dollars) for damages caused to the national carrier by the airports closure.
The PAD agreed to lift its siege of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, the old airport, after achieving their political objective of forcing prime minister Somchai Wongsawat out of his post, and blocking constitutional amendments that might have led to a return to politics of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, their nemesis.
PAD core-leader Chamlong Srimuang led the exodus from Suvarnabhumi before noon, after paying homage to a portrait of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and shouting "long live the king."
King Bhumibol celebrates his 81st birthday on Friday.
Suvarnabhunmi will be partially reopened to regular international flights by December 4 at midnight, said Serirat Pasutanong, acting president of the Airports of Thailand, the state authority responsible for airport management.
THAI has announced plans to resume regular international flights from the airport immediately after midnight on December 5, but foreign airlines may await assurances that the airport is safe and operating at international standards, Serirat said.
Many airlines have had to shift their operations to Thailand's U-Tapao Air Base, 150 kilometres south-east of Bangkok, to evacuate some of the more than 200,000 passengers stranded by the airport closures.
"We will continue to use U-Tapao until Suvarnabhumi is completely operational," said Serirat, who noted that a return to normalcy could take one to two weeks.
In what they termed their "final battle" to topple the government, the PAD raided Suvarnabhumi on November 25 and Don Mueang on November 28, completely cutting the capital off from civilian air traffic.
Industry sources estimate they have lost more than 86 million dollars a day from undelivered exports. Losses to the kingdom's tourism industry have been estimated at near 3 billion dollars in the long term.
While the PAD, a loose coalition of groups united in their hatred of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin and the corrupt politics he came to represent, have claimed a victory, it remains unclear if they have succeeded in their ultimate goal of keeping Thaksin and his cronies out of politics.
On Tuesday the Constitution Court dissolved the ruling People Power Party and two of its coalition partners - Chart Thai and Matchimathipatya - and banned 33 of their executive members from politics for five years.
The verdict automatically forced Somchai, Thaksin's brother-in-law and a top party executive, to step down as prime minister along with nearly half his cabinet.
Thailand is now under a caretaker cabinet until parliament is reconvened Monday to elect a new premier.
Controversial politician Chalerm Yoobamrung, a close political ally to Thaksin, is a likely candidate for the premiership.
But such a selection might bring the PAD back to the streets.
PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul has warned that protests might resume if the new government tries to return a "Thaksin proxy" to power.
The PAD has been leading anti-government protests in Bangkok since May 25, after the government initiated moves to amend the 2007 constitution which were interpreted as efforts to reinstate Thaksin and his political allies.
Thaksin, a billionaire former telecommunications tycoon who was prime minister between 2001-06, rose to unprecedented popularity in Thailand on the back of populist policies that secured the support of much of the country's poor - the vast majority of the electorate.
His near-monopoly of political power, along with his undermining of constitutional checks and balances, were ended by a military coup on September 19, 2006. He was banned form politics in May, 2007.
In October, the Supreme Court for Political Office Holders found Thaksin guilty of abuse of power and sentenced him to two years in jail, but despite the verdict Thaksin has vowed to return from self-exile to re-join Thailand's political fray.
