“Great! You’ve made careful preparations. You’re so considerate. Thanks!” These sincere words of praise were spoken by members of Brazil’s Olympic football team to Air China’s Ground Services.

At 7:20am on August 20, 2008, following the Beijing events, 24 members of Brazil’s football team, guided by volunteers, hastened to Air China’s Olympic Passenger Check-in Counter H17 at T3, to take flight CA1557 to Shanghai.

During the football team member check-in, the Air China ground crew discovered two large pieces of luggage that were quite “special”. After inquiring, the ground crew learned that the over-sized bags contained the team’s training footballs. Inflated balls are forbidden from being carried on board according to flight regulations since the increased pressure resulting from take off will further inflate the balls and may cause them to explode. All of the balls needed to be deflated for safety reasons in accordance with regulations. The Brazilian team leader was reluctant to deflate the balls since the team had been unaware of this regulation prior to check-in and, therefore, did not bring the needle required to deflate the balls. They were well aware that giving up the luggage in question would affect their future matches as the balls were a vital necessity to their training. While the Brazilian team considered their options, a staff member from Air China Ground Services Department arrived, a ball needle in hand, to assist in deflating the balls. The Brazilian team was surprised by the airline’s thorough preparation.Upon seeing the ball needle, the team leader was pleasantly surprised, and exclaimed: “Great! This is so unexpected.”

This surprising result stemmed from prudent preparations made by the airline well in advance of the Games. Even before the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, Air China had secured detailed incident prevention and emergency management.They rehearsed and identified even the most trivial of possible issues and subsequently developed appropriate settlement measures. Concerning the special luggage brought by Olympics-related passengers, the Air China Ground Services Department held Special Luggage Checking Seminars designed to analyze all possible situations throughout all check-in procedures and improve accident prevention and emergency management. Concerning the flight regulation against inflatable balls, such as footballs and basketballs, the appropriate ball needle was prepared for each senior officer.Concerning the guns and ammunition for shooting events, the extra step was taken of associating such items with the large luggage service, which was added to the original procedures. To handle the pole-vaulters’ luggage, which contained poles in excess of four meters in length, special staff were arranged to guide the entire security inspection process, from the check-in counter on the fourth floor to the security inspection counter on the first floor.

With its high-quality and considerate services, Air China Ground Services Department secured smooth travel for all Olympic delegations, and earned international fame along the way.