But bonhomie and bromance are not always enough and the summit ended abruptly without an agreement, with sanctions proving a deal-breaker.

Here are five things we learned from the two-day gathering in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi.

​​​​​– Food for thought –

    Hanoi was not a summit for anyone hoping to diet. The US president was treated to a five-course lunch with the Vietnamese prime minister that included scallops, mango, spring rolls, cod, Wagyu beef, wood-ear mushrooms, lotus seeds and longans, a tropical fruit.

Perhaps understandably, the US side reportedly asked for a more “simple” dinner with Kim and backroom staff were said to be wrangling over the menu until the last minute.

In the end, the 80s classic of prawn cocktail, avocado and thousand island dressing kicked off the meal, followed by a fusion of styles for the main: grilled sirloin with a kimchi-stuffed pear. A runny chocolate “lava” closed it out.

The following day’s working lunch was abruptly cancelled but for the record, the menu showed they were due to eat snow fish – a deliciously tender Asian species – apple foie gras jelly and banoffee pie. In the event, the empty table settings spoke volumes.

 – Trains, planes and automobiles –

For their first historic meeting in Singapore, Kim borrowed a plane from his Chinese friends but this time, he undertook a mammoth 4,000-kilometre (2,500-mile) rail journey in his olive green train.

Footage of him taking a cigarette break at a brief stopover in China lit up social media, his ever-present sister Kim Yo Jong rushing to his side to hand him an ashtray.

And to complete the set, automobiles played another role in this summit.

In Singapore, Trump set Secret Service hearts pounding by allowing Kim a glimpse into his top-secret armoured “Beast”.

This time, a senior North Korean delegation was given a guided tour around a Vietnamese car factory touted as a model for Pyongyang’s potential economic development.

– Vox pop Kim –

At home, Pyongyang carefully choreographs Kim’s every appearance in its tightly-controlled media, with state television often not even broadcasting natural sound from his events.

And while foreign journalists have tried before to draw an unscripted response from the reclusive leader, no one had ever been successful before.

So it must have come as quite a surprise to the Washington Post reporter who dutifully asked Kim if he was confident he could reach a deal with Trump, when he actually answered.

The North Korean went on to answer several more shouted questions at media opportunities — but analysts warned against interpreting it as some new openness on Pyongyang’s part.

In fact, a double booking snafu had already revealed the North Koreans’ reticence about close proximity to reporters. The White House set up a media centre for its press corps in Kim’s hotel, but the journalists were then unceremoniously ejected.

– Sister in shot –

Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong rarely leaves her brother’s side, to the extent she has several times accidentally found herself in shot when the world’s cameras are trained on him.

At the inter-Korean summit last April, she wildly swerved off to the side of the red carpet when she realised she was in her brother’s limelight.

This time, as Trump and Kim took a poolside stroll at the luxury Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, she tried to make sure she was not the focus by hiding behind a tree — but was still clearly visible peeping through the leaves.

– What about North Korea? –

After the summit abruptly ended without a deal, the world’s media scrambled to Trump’s press conference to learn what the US president thought.

But Trump has a constant ability to surprise and he began not by talking about the past two days in Hanoi, but doing a tour of some of the rest of the world’s hot spots — including Venezuela, and India and Pakistan.

In contrast to his wide-ranging and lengthy news conference in Singapore, a jaded looking president wrapped up well within the hour with the parting shot: “That’s it ladies and gentlemen. I’m about to get on a plane and fly back to a wonderful place called Washington DC.”

His unenthusiastic tone belied the reality: aftershocks from his former lawyer’s testimony are waiting for him at home.

However, teams from Washington and Pyongyang will continue working on the issue and will perhaps make some progress in the future, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, though Trump would not commit to another summit.

“I can’t tell you about the next meeting. It could be soon, it could be a long time. We really want to do it right,” Trump told the press before departing for Washington after the 36-hour summit was brought to an abrupt end.

Trump and Kim had been in Vietnam since Tuesday for a second summit, which was widely expected to produce a more concrete outcome. The first summit in Singapore last year was considered more of a |“symbolic” get together.

“Walk away” is a diplomatic term used when a negotiation cannot achieve a satisfactory solution, or one or both parties do not want to continue.

“It was very friendly,” Trump said when asked about him “walking away” from the talks.

“This wasn’t a ‘walk away’ like when you get up and walk out,” he explained, insisting that his relationship with Kim is good.

The differences that brought the talks to an end were related to a reciprocal deal of complete denuclearisation and all sanctions being lifted.

Washington said it was prepared to lift sanctions if Pyongyang was committed to denuclearising in areas the US wants, said Pompeo, who was at the press conference with Trump.

“We asked him [Kim Jong-un] to do more, but he is not prepared for that. I wish we could do more,” Pompeo said. “We didn’t get to something that made sense for the United States of America.”

Trump added: “Basically they wanted the sanctions to be lifted in their entirety, and we couldn’t do that. We haven’t given up anything. “He [Kim] wants to denuke, he just wants to do that in areas that are less important than what we want.

“We want to give up sanctions because that country has so much economic potential. But only when they agree to give up their nuclear [weapons],” Trump said, repeating what he had said earlier to lure North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions in exchange for economic development. According to Trump, the breakdown of the summit was “was about sanctions”.

However, Trump said the US will not impose more sanctions as it believes North Korea will not further develop nuclear projects and conduct missile tests.

“We will keep the relationship. What chairman Kim promised me last night [Wednesday night at dinner] is that he is not going to do rocket and nuclear tests. I trust him, I hope that’s true,” Trump said.

While Trump rushed back to Washington to face the disturbing testimony of his former legal aide Michael Cohen, North Korea’s Kim and his delegation decided to stay on until Saturday to warm up ties with Vietnam.

According to observers, the North Korean delegation wants to study Vietnam’s successful economic model. High-ranking North Korean officials, led by the ruling party’s vice chairperson Ri Su-yong, visited the Vietnam Agriculture Science Institute in Hanoi yesterday. They had earlier visited the tourist destination of Ha Long Bay and industrial areas.

The pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, has become the face of the crisis since he was shot down in a rare aerial engagement between the South Asian neighbours over the disputed region of Kashmir on Wednesday.

With anger boiling over his capture in India, analysts have touted him as a potential trump card for Islamabad.

“As a peace gesture we are releasing the Indian pilot tomorrow,” Prime Minister Imran Khan told a joint session of parliament.

    Parliamentarians stamped their feet in approval at his statement, the first sign of a potential thaw after a dangerous sequence of events between the two countries sent tensions soaring.

Pakistani media personnel gather outside the Parliament building during a joint session in Islamabad on February 28, 2019. – Pakistan said on February 28 it will release a captured Indian pilot in a “peace gesture”, taking a step towards rapprochement as clashes between the nuclear-armed rivals ignited fears of a disastrous conflict. // AFP PHOTO

Tit-for-tat raids across their hair-trigger border have alarmed world powers including China and the US, who have urged restraint.

Pakistan has said it downed two Indian fighters, while India confirmed it had lost one plane and claimed it had shot down a Pakistani jet.

“I am afraid of miscalculations,” Khan said. “We should not even think of war, especially in view of the lethality of the weapons that we have.”

However he warned that his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi should not misconstrue his desire to de-escalate as “weakness”.

“India must know that we will be forced to strongly retaliate against any Indian action in the future,” he said.

Wednesday’s dogfight and the pilot’s capture sparked fears of India and Pakistan — who have fought two wars and countless deadly skirmishes over the Himalayan region — entering a cycle of retaliation and counterattacks that could spiral out of control.

Pakistan has closed its airspace indefinitely, and the army said Thursday its troops were on high alert along the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides Kashmir.

Authorities have tightened security across the country, with hospitals on alert and leave for police and other security officials cancelled in some cities.

– ‘He is safe’ –

With anger boiling in India over Pakistan’s capture of the pilot, Modi called on his citizens Thursday to “stand as a wall” in the face of an enemy that “seeks to destabilise India”.

Analysts have said the pilot’s fate, and his safe release, could prove central to the neighbours pulling back from the brink.

US President Donald Trump has voiced optimism that the tensions could soon be resolved.

“We have had some reasonably decent news… Hopefully that’s going to be coming to an end,” he said of the crisis, speaking to reporters in Hanoi after a summit there with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The confrontation erupted after a suicide attack in Indian-held Kashmir killed 40 Indian troops on February 14.

New Delhi blamed the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group for the attack. Twelve days later Indian warplanes launched a strike inside Pakistani territory, hitting what it said was a militant training camp.

An infuriated Islamabad denied major casualties or damage, but a day later launched its own incursion across the Line of Control which sparked the dogfight that ended in Abhinandan’s capture.

A viral video apparently taken shortly after his plane was shot down purportedly showed Abhinandan being dragged and beaten by a group of men as Pakistani soldiers intervened, shouting “Stop! Stop!”

Mohammad Faisal, the Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters Thursday that the pilot had “some mishap before our officers reached there because he was caught by the public”.

But he stressed the pilot was now “with us, he is safe and in good condition”.

A video released by the Pakistani military later showed Abhinandan sipping tea, his face swollen and sporting bruises but otherwise collected and calm.

He thanked the “thorough gentlemen” who rescued him from the mob and complimented the tea as “fantastic”. It was unclear if he had been coerced to speak.

Kashmir has been divided and disputed by India and Pakistan since 1947. The two countries have fought two of their three wars over the region.

But little did they know that the stunt was part of Caromayan’s plan to propose to his girlfriend during the recognition rites of the 482 recruits of the Philippine Public Safety College at the Regional Training Center Central Visayas (RTC-7) in Consolacion town, northern Cebu on Thursday, February 28, 2019.

Police patrolman Rojan Caromayan and his girlfriend, Christine Lechido, kiss after the proposal. CDN Digital photo | Morexette Marie B. Erram

The 27-year-old Caromayan, who is from  Mabinay town in Negros Oriental, pretended to collapse to attract the attention of his girlfriend, Christine Lechido, who was among the many spectators during the ceremony on a hot Thursday morning.

The plan worked as Lechido, who is 26 years old and is from North Cotabato, came rushing to her boyfriend’s side. Caromayan’s companions in the RTC-7 followed Lechido, bringing balloons and bouquets of flowers.

When Caromayan saw her girlfriend and his friends beside him, the police trainee got up on one knee and popped the question.

“Will you marry me?” Caromayan asked Lechido, getting cheers from the audience.

Lechido, trying to fight tears, answered “yes.”

“I was really shocked when somebody told me he collapsed. But I did not expect him to actually propose, especially in front of a lot of people,” said Lechida.

“I’m really happy that he made effort on preparing all of this. He’s not the showy type of girlfriend or father that’s why I’m so surprised he pulled it off,” she added.

Caromayan, who became a company commander during his stay at the RTC-7, said he sought the help of some of his friends on coming up with the proposal.

“I choose to do it during the recognition rites to show my sincerity (on my plans to marry her), and that I truly loved her. And there’s no one else I will choose as a lifetime partner,” he said.

Caromayan and Lechido have been together for five years and have two children aged three and one.

The two met while both were staying in a boarding house in San Fernando town,  southern Cebu.

“He was still working as a security guard when we first met. A month after he courted me, we lived under one roof,” said Lechida.

Their eldest son, John Chrysler, was born almost three years later.

Lechida said Caromayan pursued his dreams of becoming a law enforcer by joining the recruits to be trained at RTC-7, under the Philippine Public Safety College, in 2018.

Recruits in RTC-7 spent at least six months away from their homes, and were rarely permitted to go outside the institution.

The distance between Caromayan and his family did not stop him from planning to propose to his long-time girlfriend.

Police Brigadier General Ramon Rafael, director of the National Police Training Institute that oversees the Public Philippine Safety College, congratulated the newly engaged couple during his speech.

The second meeting between the two leaders was supposed to build on their historic first summit in Singapore but they failed to bridge their differences and did not sign a joint statement as initially scheduled.

“Sometimes you have to walk and this was just one of those times,” Trump told reporters.

Trump said that the sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its nuclear programme had been the sticking point.

    “Basically they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that,” he said.

But he insisted he was “optimistic that the progress we made” before and at the summit left them “in position to have a really good outcome” in the future.

“I’d much rather do it right than do it fast,” he added.

The outcome fell far short of the pre-meeting expectations and hopes, after critics said their initial historic meeting in Singapore was more style over substance.

“This is a major failure,” tweeted Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund peace foundation.

It showed the limit of summitry, he added, with “not enough time or staff” to work out a deal.

In the original White House programme, a “Joint Agreement Signing Ceremony” had been scheduled in Hanoi as well as a working lunch for the two leaders.

In the event, both men left the summit venue without signing anything and Trump moved up his news conference by two hours.

Ankit Panda, from the Federation of American Scientists, warned on Twitter that the White House’s expectation of further talks “does not have to be a perception shared in North Korea. Kim may have left irate, for all we know. He may have no intention of continuing this.”

Trump flew around the world for the meeting and Kim undertook a mammoth two-and-a-half-day trek through China in his olive green train, travelling 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles).

At first the smiles and bonhomie from Singapore ran on into their second date in Hanoi as Trump touted the “special relationship” between the two, although concrete statements were vague.

The US president frequently dangled the prospect of a brighter economic future for a nuclear-free North Korea, at one point saying there was “AWESOME” potential.

From the outset, he had appeared to downplay expectations of an immediate breakthrough in nuclear talks, saying he was in “no rush” to clinch a rapid deal and was content if a pause in missile testing continued.

But Harry Kazianis, Director of Korean Studies at the Centre for the National Interest, said that no agreement was better than a bad one.

There would be “nothing worse than signing a deal just to get something”, he told AFP.

“The challenge is North Korea’s nuclear weapons are already a reality,” he added. “Getting a deal that does little to nothing to remove that threat would be far worse than a flawed deal.”

   – ‘Rocket man‘ –

In Singapore the two signed a vague document in which Kim pledged to “work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.

Progress subsequently stalled with the two sides disagreeing on what that means, as the North sought relief from sanctions and Washington pressed for concrete steps towards it giving up its weapons.

As in Singapore, the two men put on a show of bonhomie in Vietnam, appearing to share jokes in front of reporters.

Looking relaxed but appearing to say little, they indulged in a poolside stroll Thursday around the gardens of the luxury Metropole Hotel, a colonial-era building that has played host to stars ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Brad Pitt.

It echoed a garden walkabout in Singapore, where the two men bonded over Trump’s hulking car — the “Beast” — with the US president allowing the younger man a glimpse inside.

It was a far cry from the height of missile-testing tensions in 2017 when Trump slammed Kim as “rocket man” and the younger man branded the American president a “mentally deranged US dotard”.

In apparently unprecedented scenes, Kim answered unscripted questions from foreign reporters, saying that he would welcome the establishment of a US liaison office in Pyongyang, which would be a step on the way to diplomatic normalisation.

Before the summit, there was talk that there could be a political declaration ending the 1950-53 Korean War which finished technically with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

There were also hopes Kim could pledge to destroy North Korea’s decades-old Yongbyon nuclear complex, which has long been at the heart of Pyongyang’s atomic development but remains shrouded in secrecy — and North Korea has promised to mothball it twice before.

A patent distraction from the summit was a scandal back home in Washington with Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen calling him a “racist” and a “conman” during a congressional hearing.

The president already showed he had the testimony at the back of his mind when he tweeted about it before his first meeting with Kim, saying Cohen — who has been sentenced to three years in jail — was “lying in order to reduce his prison time”.

    The 25-year-old defender returned to Melbourne earlier this month after being detained during his honeymoon in Bangkok and threatened with extradition to his native Bahrain.

Bahraini authorities accuse him of offences linked to the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. But his detention sparked a worldwide outcry and he was eventually allowed back to Australia, where he had been granted asylum.

Writing in The Guardian newspaper, al-Araibi repeated his claim that he was targeted for political reasons.

    It follows his criticism of Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, a member of Bahrain’s ruling family.

“Evidently, it is a myth that sports and politics do not mix,” he said.

“Some people consider my release as a great victory. While I’m happy to be home, I cannot help but think that my personal fight is not over,” he added.

“Even now, Bahrain has vowed to ‘pursue all necessary legal actions’ to drag me back to the place I fled. My brother remains imprisoned there, and I don’t believe that I am safe from the Bahraini government.”

Al-Araibi claimed authoritarian states were using sports events to raise their profile, “but when athletes and individuals call attention to this practice they are imprisoned and forcibly silenced”.

He pointed to activist Najah Yousif, who human rights groups say was jailed for three years for criticising the kingdom’s hosting of the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Prosecutors claimed she “broadcast false and biased news” about conditions in Bahrain and “promoted terrorist acts”.

“Fans of Formula One racing need to help Najah,” said Al-Araibi.

“Formula One needs to be told that human rights abuses cannot be tolerated. I urge you to boycott this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix if Najah does not walk free before the Bahrain Grand Prix in March.”

He also called on major sporting bodies, including FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, to “step up” even further against injustice after both intervened to help his case.

“I believe they need to call for an investigation into the repression of athletes orchestrated by the (Bahraini) authorities in 2011,” he said.

“International sporting bodies, governments and individuals must unite to fight for the helpless,” al-Araibi added.

He cited the case of jiujitsu fighter Mohamed Mirza, saying he was given an “unlawful” jail sentence and “subjected to brutal torture”.

Rights groups have also claimed that athletes including footballers were tortured and abused during a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.

“If I was not, I wouldn’t be here,” he told a reporter who asked whether he was ready to do so. Trump responded that the comment “might be the best answer you’ve ever heard”.

The two sides have differed over the definition of the term, and when Kim was asked if he was willing to take concrete steps, the North Korean leader answered: “That’s what we are discussing right now.”

The North Korean leader also said he would welcome Washington opening a liaison office in Pyongyang

Liaison offices are below the level of embassies but would be a key initial step in normalising relations between the former wartime foes.

Asked if he was ready for the US to open an office in Pyongyang, Kim told reporters: “I think it is something that is worth welcoming.”

Taking questions from a small group of reporters, the leaders sat across from each other, along with close aides and interpreters. Trump said the idea of a liaison office was a “great thing”.

Kim promised to “do my best to achieve a great, ultimately good outcome” as he sat down for formal talks Thursday with US President Donald Trump.

They had “walked side by side to Hanoi”, where the summit was taking place, and were “continuing great dialogue”, he added

The leaders are in Hanoi for their second summit following a historic first meeting in Singapore last June that produced little more than a vaguely worded agreement to “work toward complete nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

They face pressure to agree on concrete steps on what exactly that means and how it could be achieved.

But the US leader said Thursday he was in “no rush”, appearing to back away from any expectations the much-anticipated meeting could produce any major breakthroughs.

The pair are expected to sign a declaration after their meetings, and Trump will hold a press conference before leaving Vietnam later Thursday.

Here is an explanation of the events so far, and the possible next steps:

    – What triggered the crisis? –

On February 14, 40 paramilitaries were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, igniting outrage. It was the deadliest militant attack there in three decades, and was claimed by Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

Kashmir has been a major flashpoint since the end of British rule in the subcontinent in 1947. A ceasefire line divides it between India and Pakistan, but both claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.

Kashmir has seen hostilities during three India-Pakistan wars, as well as a limited conflict in 1999.

India has 500,000 troops stationed in the region to counter an armed insurgency by separatists seeking either independence or a merger with Pakistan.

    – How did India react? –

Prime Minister Narendra Modi threatened a “jaw-breaking” response after the bombing. New Delhi demanded action from Islamabad, which it accuses of using militant groups as proxies to fuel unrest in Kashmir and carry out terror attacks in India.

On February 26, Indian warplanes crossed the Kashmir ceasefire line into Pakistani airspace, dropping bombs on what New Delhi described as a large JeM camp where militants were preparing to stage more attacks in India.

Islamabad confirmed the incursion and the dropping of payloads in undisputed Pakistani territory, a few kilometres outside the part of Kashmir it controls.

But it said New Delhi’s claim of killing scores of militants was “self-serving, reckless and fictitious”.

    – What was Pakistan’s response? –

An infuriated Islamabad vowed retaliation after the raid, India’s first use of air power on Pakistani soil since the two fought a war in 1971 — when neither had nuclear weapons.

On February 27, Pakistani jets flew across the Kashmir ceasefire line in what Islamabad described as a show of strength, hitting open spaces after locking on to military targets.

But there was a dramatic escalation when the Pakistani planes were chased by Indian fighters. In the ensuing fight, both sides claimed to have shot down each other’s warplanes.

Pakistan said it downed two Indian jets, and detained one of their pilots. New Delhi confirmed the loss of one of its planes, and said a Pakistani jet was shot down — which Islamabad denied. India has demanded the “immediate and safe return” of the pilot.

As tensions reached a level not seen in years, Pakistan closed its airspace completely.

 – What happens next? –

The crisis has sparked alarm across the world, with major powers urging the two nuclear-armed rivals to act with restraint.

Both sides have sought to play down the threat of war — Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj have said they do not want to escalate further.

A lot rests on how India reacts to the Pakistani retaliation and the capture of its pilot, analysts said.

“If India were to… retaliate again, that could really take things to another level,” Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center told Bloomberg TV.

But the fact that Pakistan has one of its pilots “may limit its options and may make it a bit more cautious”.

And given limited communication between the two, “there is increased scope for misunderstanding and miscalculation”, wrote Rahul Roy-Chaudhury of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

While there is international pressure to avoid a plunge into full-blown war, there may be pressure within India to not let Pakistan have the last word.

“India is led by a government that’s very conservative, and has been very tough on Pakistan. There’s an election coming up in a few weeks in India… I find it hard to believe that India would be ready to de-escalate,” Roy-Chaudhury said.

“I don’t know if we’ve seen the last of these fireworks on the sub-continent, unfortunately.”

Flights from Bangkok to Europe and from Europe to Bangkok normally fly over Pakistan’s airspace but since the closure, THAI had asked for authorisation to fly to the continent over China’s airspace, the airline said on Thursday.

THAI’s flights from Bangkok to Europe to be resumed are:

Day flights on Thursday, February 28, 2019:

-TG974 Bangkok-Moscow [delay from actual schedule]

-TG916 Bangkok-London

-TG922 Bangkok-Frankfurt

TG962 Bangkok-Stockholm

Night flights on Thursday, February 28, and early morning of Friday, March 1, 2019

-TG920 from Bangkok-Frankfurt

– TG910 from Bangkok-London

-TG924 from Bangkok-Munich

-TG930 from Bangkok-Paris

-TG934 from Bangkok-Brussels

– TG940 from Bangkok-Milan

– TG936 from Bangkok-Vienna

– TG960 from Bangkok-Stockholm

– TG970 from Bangkok-Zurich

-TG950 from Bangkok-Copenhagen

-TG954 from Bangkok-Oslo

THAI will reroute its flights from Bangkok-Karachi-Bangkok on TG507 and TG508 on Thursday by flying to and from Muscat and will not stop in Karachi.

Flights from Bangkok-Lahore-Bangkok on TG345 and TG346 on Thursday are also cancelled.

THAI said it was closely monitoring the situation and asked passengers to call THAI at +662 356 1111 24 hours or visit http://www.thaiairways.com for updates on the flight schedule.

THAI passengers who hold tickets on routes affected by flight cancellation may change their itinerary. Fees and charges will be exempted, and conditions apply.

Many passengers were left stranded as they were not given advance notice of the cancellations. Some were only notified when they showed up at the check-in counter.

Thai Airways International on Wednesday announced the cancellation of all flights to and from Pakistan and Europe after Pakistan closed its airspace amid rising tensions with India.

Due to safety concerns, the airline has also cancelled all 11 flights from Bangkok to Europe for passengers checking in on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

The cancelled flights are: Bangkok-Frankfurt, Bangkok-London, Bangkok -Munich, Bangkok-Paris, Bangkok-Brussels, Bangkok-Milan, Bangkok-Vienna, Bangkok-Stockholm, Bangkok-Zurich, Bangkok-Copenhagen and Bangkok-Oslo.

Inbound flights from the European cities, including Rome, were also cancelled on Wednesday.

THAI said it was closely monitoring the situation and plans to re-route its flights.

Suvarnabhumi Airport provided accommodation for affected passengers while they waited for their next flights and a team was set up at the airport to advise passengers.

However, as of Thursday morning, there was no update when the cancelled flights can resume.

Passengers are advised to check their flight schedule before going to the airport.

For THAI passengers, they can call THAI at +662 356 1111 24 hours or visit http://www.thaiairways.com for updates on the flight schedule.