Thai Airways to sue airport demonstrators for compensation

Thai Airways has said that it will sue the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) for compensation to recoup the massive revenue losses the national carrier suffered during the eight days that the group caused the closure of Suvarnabhumi airport.

Thailand’s permanent transport secretary Surachai Thansitthipon, who is also chairman of the national flag carrier’s board of directors, made the announcement after the airline’s board met on Wednesday, saying that during the airport occupation Thai Airways was forced to cancel all of its scheduled flights.

As of Thursday, services were slowly returning to normal at both Bangkok’s international and domestic airports, but it is not anticipated that Suvarnabhumi International Airport will return to full operations until this weekend.

A Thai Airways flight to Australia on Wednesday was the first international service to leave the airport in over a week, occurring just hours after protesters ended the siege that saw as many as 350,000 tourists stranded in the country.

The blockade came to an end one day after Thai court’s disbanded the political party of premier Somchai Wongsawat, and barred him from politics for five years.

On Thursday, Thai Airways operated limited services out of both Bangkok airports. Bangkok Airways announced its resumptions of services as well.

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