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Thai Airways International announced that it will provide 31 special flights to and from U-Tapao Airport to serve stranded tourist.

It said 18 flights will leave the airport and 13 flights will land at the airport.

It said tourists must check in at the Centara Grande Hotel at Central World five hours before departure.

Passengers, who arrive on the 13 in-bound flights, will be transferred to the Centara Grande, it said.

Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Bitec) is expected to open for check-in at 8am Monday. Under contract with THAI, Centara Grand's check-in counters would be in operations only until Dec 2.

But THAI passengers are required to first contact the airline's offices on Vibhavadi, Lan Luang and Silom roads for rerouting and rescheduling, to ensure a seat to fly back home, an officer said.

"They just can't simply go to Centara Grand Hotel for check-in, without having their flight rerouting and rescheduling first. And now, contacting the offices in person is advised," the officer said.

She added that Frankfurt and Copenhagen are the only two European destinations that THAI would fly to. In Japan, the only destination is Narita Airport and in India, it is New Delhi. THAI would also fly to Hong Kong, Seoul, Beijing and Sydney. Seats to European destinations are now fully booked until December 3.

"They just can't simply go to Centara Grand Hotel for check-in, without having their flight rerouted and rescheduled first. And now, contacting the offices in person is advised," the officer said.

Meanwhile, Airports of Thailand Acting President Serirat Prasutanond said Sunday that he is now pleading for People's Alliance for Democracy to let go aircraft, now parked at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

He said if airlines can retrieve their planes, more flights would be available to carry those stranded passengers out of the country.

It is estimated that since Suvarnabhumi was under PAD's seizure, nearly 160,000 passengers have been stranded in the Kingdom.

Also Sunday, a PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang told that AOT and airlines should send officers to Suvarnabhumi to take care of their aircraft, citing that PAD guards have no knowledge of it.