Beijing 2022 organizers put Olympians' safety in arrival and departure high on agenda

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Olympic participants' first impression and memory about the hosts is directly linked with the feelings when they arrive in and depart from the place.

As for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games staged with the world still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, "safety" should come on top priority in Olympic-related personnel's arrival and departure.

Different from traditional arrival and departure service starting from airport to accommodation, its content for Beijing 2022 has been expanded by taking flights coordination and safeguarding and pre-departure countermeasures into consideration due to the pandemic, said Zhang Liang, director of the Arrival and Departure Center of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (BOCOG).

"As major international sporting events, Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games have more participants, but we are facing a higher standard in ensuring our arrival and departure service this time as international flights are impacted due to the pandemic," said Zhang.

"We need to conduct detailed arrangements in terms of flight arrangement, health declaration, COVID-19 tests, accreditation activation and customs clearance of those Olympic-related personnel at the airport, transportation and logistics after they leave the airport, and their security check and check-in in accommodation."

To better ensure safety in international travel, charters and temporary flights are a main channel of transporting overseas participants to China for the Games, while they will be supplemented by business flights with the Beijing Capital International Airport as their first entry point, Zhang noted.

As for departure, Zhang stressed that Olympic-related personnel are not allowed to take business flights as they will depart from the "closed loop" without a 21-day quarantine, which may bring risks to other passengers aboard.

Designated areas are in place for inbound and outbound trips for those personnel in Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport.

"We have made full preparation for that," said Zhang. "We can balance the needs for domestic and international flights."

Arrivals and Departures Information System for Beijing 2022 has been set up to gather information about participants' arrival and departure plans, and it has been experimented during test events staged between last October and December.

According to Zhang, the system collected, integrated and analyzed the arrival and departure information from over 4,000 participants during the test events staged between last October and December.

"After garnering information in an all-round manner, we can make good preparation for providing quality service for those participants after they arrive in China. Everything is going smoothly," Zhang said.

"We tested our flight safeguarding, airport operation, and arrival and departure service from airport to accommodation. We have garnered experience in this process, and we are ready for the Winter Olympics through these test events," he added.

"Closed-loop management" for Beijing 2022 began on Jan. 4 when a part of Olympic-related personnel arrived in China before entering the loop.

Zhang said the staff from the Arrival and Departure Center have already been in the venues to accommodate those personnel in the "closed loop".

"Everyday we need to gather and analyze the situation through the feedback from our staff at every point, and help them handle some emergencies as well," Zhang noted.

"Our service is running almost non-stop to Olympic-related personnel around the world to help them solve their problems in arrival and departure.

"Due to jet leg, maybe it's midnight in China when those participants check in at the airport elsewhere, but our staff are ready to offer them help at any time," Zhang observed.