BANGKOK: Flights to and from Bangkok's Don Muang airport ceased today as water encroached on runways, forcing at least one aircraft to divert while in the air to Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Nok Air, a domestic budget carrier, diverted aircraft to Suvarnabhumi and said passengers on future flights should await SMS telephone contact rather than call the Nok Air offices.

Another carrier that was operating out of Don Muang, Orient Thai, which carries cargo as well as runs domestic services within Thailand, abandoned the airport this morning and switched to Suvarnabhumi.

Nok Air suspended operations at Don Muang until November 1 ''because water has entered the north side of the airport already,'' the company's CEO, Patee Sarasin, told the Associated Press.

The dramatic retreat in the face of Bangkok's floods deluge came as a special holiday from October 27 to October 31 was declared for Bangkok and in 21 provinces under water or threatened by flooding.

The holiday coincides with what is expected to be the most testing time for Bangkok as floods gush towards the capital.

Authorities have been trying to divert the water around the capital, with mixed success. Patience in some suburbs is wearing thin as residents on one side of dykes, deep in water, note residents on the other side still high and dry.

With the death toll rising to 370, Thailand's Tourism Minister, Chumpon Silpaar-cha, acknowledged today for the first time that tourism numbers are likely to fall by 20 percent.

Phuket has been unaffected by the floods and resort managers report that there have been no serious cancellations.

Direct flights to Phuket have proved to be popular and tourists transiting in Bangkok can be reassured that Suvarnabhumi airport will be the last piece of infrastructure to be flooded.

Much will depend, though, on the success of the diversion plan later this week when the encroaching water meets high tides, and the flow of water into the Gulf of Thailand slows.

In other floods news:

.. Thai Airways International, which operates out of Suvarnabhumi, said it may reduce flights because of staffing concerns, Reuters news agency reported.

.. Cabinet agreed today to make provision for 250 billion baht in loans to help flooded manufacturers, small and medium enterprises and independent business operators to recover.

.. State, private and international schools in and around Bangkok have been asked to close until November 7, with the possibility, some have been told that this could be extended to November 15.

.. Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the Chao Phraya was at its highest level since 1995 and warned riverside residents to evacuate before anticipated high tides arrive this weekend, combined with a large deluge of water from the North which will arrive in the capital from Wednesday.