Thousands scramble as Thai Airways cancels flights over Pakistan

Swiss tourist Gerlinde Hoff, 60, stayed overnight at Suvarnabhumi airport with her husband and they were still waiting by midday to find another flight home.

"They only say 'you have to wait, you have to wait, you have to wait,' she said. "I'm angry and I'm tired. It was such a nice holiday and now it's a little bit not so nice."

Thailand is among the world's most popular tourist destinations, receiving more than 38 million visitors last year, about 6.8 million of them from Europe.

Many airlines route flights over Pakistan and the closure of its airspace caused major disruptions on Wednesday.

Emirates and Qatar Airways suspended flights to Pakistan and others, such as Singapore Airlines and British Airways, were forced to reroute flights.

On Thursday, Singapore Airlines said all of its Europe-bound flights would now continue as planned, without the need for refuelling stops, and they would reroute to avoid the affected airspace as necessary.

Malaysia Airlines said on its website it was not currently flying over the affected airspace and was avoiding Pakistan and northern India for flights to and from Europe until further notice.