Skip to content What happened in December 2008
The siege at Suvarnabhumi International Airport ended after a Thai court dissolved the governing coalition and the prime minister stood down. The first flight to land, from Phuket, carried about 300 passengers, which raised hopes for some 300,000 people stranded. Reports then differed on how long the airport would take to recover, from two days to eleven, because it had to be cleaned, swept for dangerous items and its computer systems restarted. Many flights to Thailand were routed through Phuket in the meantime. The shutdown also contributed to a fall in visitors to Vietnam that month, as we reported at the time.
How things stand in 2026
Suvarnabhumi operates normally, and Bangkok remains a convenient connecting point to Saigon, Hanoi and Da Nang. Our guide to budget airlines in Vietnam and South East Asia covers who flies the routes now. For fares and booking, see booking flights to Vietnam.