BANGKOK - LOBSTER was still off the menu at top hotels and French cheeses were in short supply as Thailand's luxury imports felt the pinch from a crippling airport blockade.

Anti-government protesters ended an eight-day siege of Bangkok's two airports on Wednesday, but at the five-star Four Seasons hotel in the capital, chefs were trying to find other ways of sourcing premier ingredients.

'The importers are working on ways around it, a lot are flying into U-Tapao and then coming to us by truck,' said Ms Maria Kuhn, public relations director for Four Seasons Thailand, referring to a military airport 190km southeast of Bangkok that opened to limited flights during the crisis.

'The fresh products are only kept for a short time and need to be processed quickly, that's the most difficult part right now,' she said.

Despite protesters claiming victory after a court on Tuesday ordered the dissolution of the ruling party, the first international flight to Suvarnabhumi international airport is not due until Thursday.

The opposition People's Alliance for Democracy have also warned they will retake the airport if other allies of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who they accuse of gross corruption, return to power.

While Thailand is self-sufficient and one of the world's biggest exporters of food, specialist products are flown in from abroad - or at least they were before the blockade.

On Thailand's southwest Andaman coast, the general manager of the luxury Rayavadee resort on Railay Beach said it had been forced to find new ports of entry for fine French cheeses such as Brie, Roquefort and Stilton.

'We have had to find alternative routes for some things like European cheeses. Quite a lot of our imported goods come through Bangkok but we have been able to get them into Phuket,' said Mr Christophe Pointaux.

Thailand has been losing around three billion baht (S$130 billion) a day in goods exports and imports since the airport blockade began, according to Mr Tanit Sorat, vice chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries.

He said 2,970 tonnes of goods were affected, including 900 tonnes of imports and nearly 1,500 tonnes of exports.

'We cannot export and import goods by air while some goods are damaged because they have been stuck at the airports,' Mr Tanit said.

'Agricultural goods alone, like vegetables, fruits and flowers, are worth 1,200-1,500 million baht per day,' he said.

Meanwhile a pro-government protester and goods exporter Rewat Wiboonsin, 58, said the protesters were holding the country's economy hostage.

'It's not fair that the PAD closed the airport,' Mr Rewat said from outside the court that ordered Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to stand down on Tuesday and banned him from politics for five years.

'They caused a problem not only for one group (of politicians) but for all 60 million Thais because now the economy is ruined,' he said. -- AFP