Leave a good first impression and memories worth remembering for the guests of the Winter Olympics - interview with Zhang Liang, director of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee Arrival and Departure Center

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, 16 Jan (Xinhua) -- Title: Leaving a Beautiful First Impression and Memories worth Remembering for the Guests of the Winter Olympics -- An Interview with Zhang Liang, Director of the Arrival and Departure Center of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee

Xinhua News Agency reporters Luo Xin and Su Bin

In previous Winter Olympic Games, the arrival and departure work has been related to a series of services such as the entry and exit of all relevant parties involved in the Olympic Games, involving a wide range of aspects and playing a very important role in the organization of the event. Under the background of the epidemic, the arrival and departure of the event is facing higher requirements.

In the preparation of the Beijing Winter Olympics, this responsibility fell to the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, which was established in March 2021, to leave the center. "It can be said that our hearts are hanging every day." At the forefront of "dealing" with overseas Olympic-related personnel, after training the team and accumulating experience in last year's Winter Olympic test match, Zhang Liang, director of the arrival and departure center, has full confidence in the arrival and departure work: "We are ready. ”

(Subtitle) The epidemic has changed the content of the arrival and departure services

"The arrival and departure work involves the first impressions of all parties involved entering China, as well as the final memories of leaving China." Zhang Liang said.

He said that under normal circumstances, the responsibility of the Olympic arrival and departure department is to provide arrival and departure services from the airport end to the accommodation end for all relevant parties involved in the Olympic Games. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the content of the arrival and departure services for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, increased the coordination of flight protection and remote epidemic prevention and control, and extended the service abroad.

"As international sports events, the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games have a relatively large number of participants, especially in the context of the new crown epidemic, the entire international air transport has been greatly affected." Zhang Liang said, "Doing a good job in the arrival and departure work of the Beijing Winter Olympics has put forward higher requirements for us. ”

"We need to make meticulous arrangements for flight arrangements, as well as the health declaration, nucleic acid testing and sampling, registration activation and customs clearance at the airport after the entry of Austrian-related personnel, transportation and logistics after leaving the airport, and security inspection, inspection, and check-in after arriving at the accommodation end."

The main reasons for The visits of Austrian-related personnel to China are charter flights and temporary flights

The COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading around the world. Zhang Liang introduced that in this case, in terms of international flight arrangements, Austrian-related personnel coming to China adopt a flight guarantee method with charter flights and temporary flights as the mainstay and commercial flights as supplements.

"Foreign stakeholders come to China, if they are willing to organize their own charter flights, or if there are several parties jointly organizing charter flights, they can fly directly to the Capital International Airport, which is relatively convenient." If there are few people and it is not easy to organize charter flights, we have organized temporary flights for Austrian-related personnel. It is operated exclusively by some Chinese and foreign airlines, and tickets are sold like commercial flights, but only to relevant parties involved in Austria. After purchasing tickets, the relevant parties involved in Austria will take these temporary flights to the Capital International Airport and directly enter the closed loop. Zhang Liang said.

Zhang Liang said that considering that charter flights or temporary flights are all Olympic-related personnel, there are careful remote prevention and control measures, and the possibility and risk of infection during the flight will be smaller.

"For those involved in Austria leaving China in the closed loop, we ask not to leave China by commercial flights. Commercial flights are open to the public, Austrian-related personnel are departing from within the closed loop, and have not completed 21 days of isolation, in line with the attitude of responsibility to the people of our country and international passengers, people in the closed loop cannot take commercial flights open to the public. Zhang Liang said.

In the early stage, the arrival and departure center took into account the intersection of the arrival and departure time of overseas Olympic-related personnel and the time of the Spring Festival and the two sessions of the National People's Congress, and after analyzing the demand for domestic flights and the entry needs of international stakeholders, the Capital International Airport was used as the only official port of entry for Austrian-related personnel.

Zhang Liang said that the D area of Terminal T3 of Capital International Airport is the only entry channel for Olympic-related international flights, and the Winter Olympic Support Area of Area C and Area E of Terminal T3 is a special channel for Olympic-related personnel to leave the port. "This is more conducive to epidemic prevention and control, and whether it is from the operational efficiency of the airport or from the efficiency of the transfer and customs clearance of the entire personnel, it will be higher, and the resources will be more concentrated."

Zhang Liang said that the domestic area of The Capital International Airport T2 terminal and the domestic area of the C area of the T3 terminal, as well as daxing international airport, can provide domestic flight services.

"Whether it is from the streamline division or the spatial arrangement, we have made full preparations. Although there is pressure, we believe that we can balance the needs of domestic flights and international flights. He said.

Almost every arrival and departure post is 7× 24 hours a day

During the Winter Olympic Test Games held from October to December last year, more than 4,000 people entered and left the country. The Arrival and Departure Center participated in the whole process during the test match and conducted a full element test.

"In this process, we have tested aviation support, airport operation, and also tested the arrival and departure services from the airport end to the accommodation end, including our arrival and departure information system, which has also undergone full element and full-process testing." After testing, we found areas for further improvement, and also trained the team and accumulated experience. Zhang Liang said.

The Arrivals and Departures Information System played a very important role during the test match. It is understood that the arrival and departure information of more than 4,000 people in the test match has been fed back on the system, and the system collects, integrates and analyzes multi-faceted data resources.

"Through a comprehensive grasp of the information, we prepare the participants for a series of services after arriving at the airport, including customs, border inspection, the operation of the ground service team, as well as transportation and logistics after leaving the airport." Zhang Liang said that all work can be "orderly, busy and not chaotic."

Since the 4th of this month, some overseas Olympic-related personnel have successively come to China and entered the closed loop to carry out work. Zhang Liang said that the arrival and departure center team has also begun to enter the venues and start the arrival and departure service desk to provide thoughtful and meticulous arrival and departure services for personnel working in the closed loop.

"It can be said that our hearts are hanging every day. Because we have to collect the problems they encounter during the day from the arrival and departure personnel at various points, we have to analyze and judge every night, and at the same time continuously improve to help them deal with some emergency situations. ”

"Almost every one of our arrival and departure positions is running 24 hours a× day, providing services to Austrian personnel around the world at any time to solve the problems they encounter in the arrival and departure." Zhang Liang said that due to the time difference, the Austrian-related personnel may be late at night in China when checking in abroad, they may encounter problems at remote check-in or transit airports, and the arrival and departure center staff will be on standby to provide services for them. (End)