Thai flights resume after week of protests

Passengers celebrate as the first to arrive after the siege land at Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

BANGKOK, Thailand — International flights to and from Thailand’s capital are gradually resuming after week-long anti-government demonstrations at Bangkok airports paralyzed the country and stranded thousands of tourists.

However, the prospect of renewed political chaos was raised as a party that was forced from office amid the protests prepared to regroup to maintain its grip on power.

A passenger jet took off from Bangkok’s main airport for Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday evening, the first international flight departing from Suvarnabhumi airport since protesters seized the airport November 25.

Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana, chairman of the board of directors of Airports of Thailand, said operations at Suvarnabhumi international airport would return to normal in “a few days.”

Cargo, military and emergency flights from the international airport resumed Tuesday afternoon, spokeswoman Monrudee Kettuphan said.

The protesters ended their siege early Wednesday after the Constitutional Court dissolved Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat’s ruling party, effectively dissolving his government.

Somchai’s government is accused by the protesters of being a front for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom they want to stand trial on corruption charges.

The court found that the People Power Party committed electoral fraud, and it barred Somchai and other top party officials from from holding public office for five years. The decision wrapped up months of opposition protests in Bangkok that have driven government officials from their offices in addition to shutting down the airport.

But in an effort to sidestep the ruling, lawmakers with Somchai’s party reformed under a new name Wednesday in a move that will allow them to retain their grip on power, a tactic sure to rile anti-government protesters.

Non-executive People Power Party members are free to retain their status as lawmakers if they can find a new party to accept them within 60 days, in this case the Puea Thai party, which welcomed a mass exodus of People Power Party members Wednesday.

The court’s decision, therefore, was akin to a time-out during a game, and Thailand’s political crisis is expected to continue, analysts say.

The former People Power Party members have no plans to dissolve parliament, said Subharat Nakboonnam, a spokeswoman for the caretaker government. They will hold a special session next week to vote for a new prime minister, she said.

CNN’s Dan Rivers in Bangkok said the court’s ruling was little more than a face-saving resolution for the airport protesters, increasingly desperate and isolated as Thais became angered by the blockade, and would change little.

“This is merely the interval between acts; the PAD protest show and the Thaksin puppetry are about to start all over again,” he said.

This week’s court ruling was the second time in three months that Thailand’s courts have removed a prime minister from the People Power Party, which took office after elections in December 2007. The ruling also dissolved two of the party’s coalition partners over allegations of vote-rigging.

The week-long siege at Suvarnabhumi and a smaller airport, Don Muang, had a devastating effect on Thailand’s vital tourism industry.

About 60,000 tourists arrive at Suvarnabhumi every day. And each day it remained shut down, airport authorities lost about 50 million baht ($1.4 million) in income, according to the Thai News Agency.

In addition, the shutdown stranded more than 100,000 tourists in hotels around Bangkok, unable to fly home.

Shammi Huda, a British citizen in Thailand for knee surgery, was holed up Wednesday in a luxury hotel in the heart of Bangkok with his wife and 15-month-old daughter — at an airline’s expense.

“Aside from the uncertainty of when we can fly back, there’s no palpable feeling in the air that such a momentous thing has been happening outside,” he said.

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