Anti-government protesters lifted their eight-day blockade of Bangkok's main airport today, raising the hopes of 230,000 stranded tourists, even though there is no end in sight to Thailand's political crisis.
A Thai Airways domestic flight landed this morning and several international flights were scheduled to leave later today, although it was unclear when full operations would resume.
Still cheering the previous day's sacking of the government by the courts, thousands of yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) activists made way for an army of cleaners at the Suvarnabhumi terminal, one of the world's biggest.
Airport general manager Serirat Prasutanond said it is expected the airport would be back to normal by Friday.
Thailand's tourist- and export-dependent economy, already feeling the effects of the global slowdown, will take much longer to recover, even if the central bank - as economists now predict - makes a hefty cut in interest rates today.
Nor will dissolution of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) heal any of the basic rifts between Bangkok's royalist elite and middle classes, who despise ousted and exiled leader Thaksin Shinawatra, and the urban poor and rural masses who love him and
continue to vote his allies into office.
"Thailand remains locked in this structurally flawed system for the foreseeable future," said IHS Global Insight analyst Kristina Azmi. "The risk of civil unrest is growing and with it the accompanying risk of military intervention."
The PAD, led by a group of royalist businessmen, academics and activists, formally marked the end of the occupation by singing the king's anthem. Ominously, the PAD protesters vow to return if they see Thaksin allies getting near power again.
Even though prime minister Somchai Wongsawat – Mr Thaksin's brother-in-law - and several cabinet ministers were banned by Tuesday's court ruling, most MPs have survived and simply switched to a new "shell" party.
Parliamentary numbers suggest they have a comfortable majority, and acting prime minister Chavarat Charnvirakul said parliament would convene on December 8th to select a new prime minister, the third in as many months.
Cargo flights started to leave Suvarnabhumi yesterday but the occupation has dealt an enormous blow to tourism and the export sector, already reeling from the global economic crisis.