Thai airport protesters end siege, operations to return to 'normal'

Bangkok: Operations at Thailand's main international airport should resume to normal in two days, its general manager said on Wednesday as anti-government protesters abandoned their eight-day protest.

A Thai Airways domestic flight from the southern island of Phuket landed at 0715 GMT, the first plane to arrive since the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters stormed the facility on November 25.

Serirat said: "I have strong confidence that everything will be OK and will back to normal in two days," adding that the first international flight would land around midnight on Thursday.

Serirat said in a statement on Tuesday the airport would be closed until at least Dec. 15 due to the need for security and computers systems checks.

Pad formally ended their occupation by singing the king's anthem before they left.

The decision came after the courts dismissed the government of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

The eight-day siege paralysed the country's tourism sector, stranding thousands of tourists and causing the loss of millions of dollars in revenue.