Bangkok airport to become fully functional on Friday

Bangkok: A Thai aviation official says Bangkok's main Suvarnabhumi international airport will become fully operational on Friday, as the countries embattled government sought to choose a new prime minister.

The acting director of the airports authority, Serirat Prasutanont, says Suvarnabhumi airport will be "open for full services including check-in and immigration" at 11:00 am (0400 GMT) on Friday.

It is now up to the airlines to resume operations from Suvarnabhumi, which had been shut since November 25 after anti-government protesters laid siege on it.

Serirat said Thursday that many airlines including Thai Airways, Bangkok Airways, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines and Japan Airlines have requested to start flying out of Suvarnabhumi.

The requests total 101 passenger and cargo flights, of which 65 are inbound and 36 outbound.

Meanwhile, Thailand's battered political parties on Thursday tried to come up with a candidate to replace the ousted prime minister.

Local media speculated widely about the selection of a new prime minister following the dissolution by court order of the three main parties of the ruling coalition, and the ouster of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years.

The parties have reconstituted under new guises and have 30 days to come up with a candidate before Parliament meets. On Wednesday they endorsed Deputy Prime Minister Chaowarat Chandeerakul as caretaker leader, but were yet to decide on a permanent prime minister.

Also on Thursday, Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who over the past four decades has stepped in to defuse several bloody political confrontations, was expected to make a speech on the eve on his 81st birthday.