Hanoi  - Vietnam Airlines will send a "rescue flight" Tuesday for passengers stranded in Thailand by protests that have shut down Bangkok's airports, but is having difficulty gaining landing permission for more flights, a company official said Monday.

"We will continue to help stranded passengers come home as soon as possible by arranging flights from Vietnam to U-Tapao airport," said Vietnam Airlines Bangkok representative Ngo Duc Thang.

U-Tapao is a naval airbase 144 kilometers southeast of Bangkok being used to repatriate foreign travelers. Vietnam Airlines' special flight was scheduled to land at the base at 3:40 pm Tuesday, board passengers, and return immediately to Vietnam.

Thang said several hundred Vietnamese nationals were stranded in Thailand, and that Vietnam Airlines' flights could also be used to evacuate non-Vietnamese passengers seeking connecting flights beyond Vietnam.

However, Thang said the U-Tapao airport is overloaded and that scheduling more flights is proving difficult. Tuesday's rescue flight had not yet received final confirmation from Thai authorities as of Monday morning.

The airline's first rescue flight Sunday evening was forced to circle U-Tapao for more than an hour before receiving permission to land, Vietnamese press reported Monday.

Air traffic in and out of Bangkok has been halted since last week after thousands of protestors seized control of the Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang international airports.

The protestors, known as the People's Alliance for Democracy, are demanding the resignation of the government and seeking to block the return to power of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is a fugitive in exile evading a prison sentence for corruption.

The current prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, is Thaksin's brother-in-law. (dpa)