About 650 Chinese tourists, the last of those stranded in Thailand, will return home today aboard two charter flights, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its website on Monday.

As of 8:30 am on Monday, 2,433 people had arrived back in China aboard nine charter flights, it said.

Air China, the national flag carrier, said it sent a Boeing 777 from Beijing to Thailand Monday afternoon to retrieve a maximum of 345 people.

A few hours later, China Southern, the nation's largest airline by fleet size, sent a Boeing 777 from Guangzhou to collect 300 people (including 50 from Hong Kong) with confirmed bookings.

The two flights were scheduled to land in Beijing and Guangzhou in the early hours of this morning.

Whether more flights will be chartered is unknown, as "it depends on the information the local Chinese embassy provides", a spokeswoman for the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said yesterday.

"More flights are possible, however, as the tourists are scattered across Thailand and some have not yet been in touch with the Chinese embassy in Bangkok," she said.

The Foreign Ministry said in its statement that has instructed the embassy to closely monitor the situation in Bangkok, and to work with relevant departments, such as the CAAC and national tourism administration, to ensure all Chinese tourists get home as safely and quickly as possible.

Protestors from the People's Alliance for Democracy besieged Bangkok's two main airports, Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, last week.

Since then, about 240,000 foreign tourists have been stranded, Thai Tourism Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said on Monday.

He said he would ask the Thai government for a 10 billion baht ($280 million) financial package to compensate travel and tour firms affected by the closure of the two airports.

One such firm is Beijing's Jieda Holidays, which is currently paying 1,500 yuan per day for each of its 150 customers stranded in hotels in the resort city of Pattaya.

Zheng Qijun, a spokesman for the company, said: "These people have tickets for Sri Lankan Airlines and Thai Airways, and will fly home in a few days.

"They are not willing to pay an extra 2,850 yuan to fly back earlier with Air China."

As a result, the tour firm is having to pay for their accommodation and entertainment, he said.

(China Daily December 2, 2008)