Airport Operations - Athens International Airport

FA EVALUATION REPORT OF ATHENS 2011 SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD SUMMER GAMES

AIRPORT OPERATIONS - ATHENS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

1. KEY STATISTICS

A total number of 15,420 passengers arrived at the Athens International Airport (AIA) between June 15 th and June 20th, 2011, with the vast majority (about 90%) arriving on the 19th & 20th of June, 2011. The above number of passengers consisted of Delegation Members, Families, ASFs, MVPs, IGMs, ITOs, TDs, Torch Runners, SOI Staff, Observers, International Volunteers and Media Representatives.

The total number of luggage that arrived at AIA amounted to 34,220; ergo the average number of luggage per person was 2.2.

The departures took place from July 3rd until July 6th, with the vast majority of passengers departing on July the 5th. Total number of passengers departed amounted to 15,582.

2. HIGHLIGHTS

- Torch Relay Event

Given the opportunity of the Flame of Hope departing from Greece to Cyprus in order to continue its journey, a Torch Relay Event took place at the Main Terminal Building of the AIA on June 10th, 2011. GOC’s Airport Operations together with the AIA’s Management organized a warm reception of the Flame of Hope and the 45 Officers of the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) Final Leg, who accompanied the Flame throughout its journey to Cyprus. The Torch Relay Event that took place at AIA was covered by International Media.

- Free of charge provision of personnel & equipment by AIA for the carriage of luggage

As a gesture of goodwill and within the spirit of cooperation and for the mutual benefit of both the GOC and the airport, AIA provided personnel and the necessary equipment, on pro bono basis, to assist with the handling & carriage of all luggage from the conveyor belts until the Transport Mall, from where all Delegations embarked their dedicated buses to be transported to the Delegations Welcome Centre (DWC).

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3. FAs MAJOR ISSUES & RECOMMENDATIONS List all major issues encountered by your FA during the Games and your recommendations on how to resolve/avoid these issues

N Issue Description Recommendation o 1 Delays in flights’ arrivals of large delegations that In order to avoid the congestion, Airport Services coincided with other large delegations that had had included in the contingency plan extra staff & already landed and were still within the arrivals’ volunteers in addition to the standard shifts to be on hall of the airport premises a 24/7 standby, in order to assist with such unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, in cases of delayed flights that would result to congestion, Airport Services had made provision for extra personnel to be available at the airport premises in less than 20 min from the moment the problem was acknowledged. 2 Issues related to Customs Formalities for In cases of thousands of people arriving within passengers arriving from Extra-Schengen 24hours ,or even less, it is almost impossible for countries problems related to Customs Authorities not to arise. In light of the above, Airport Services had kindly required from the Customs Authorities of the Airport not only to increase the number of staff during peak periods but to also dedicate an area for the Customs Formalities to take place, different than the standard Customs Area of the Airport, in an effort not to mix the Delegations arriving for the SOWSG with other passengers arriving at AIA on the same commercial flights. This way, Airport Services managed to significantly reduce any delays that might have occurred due to Customs Formalities. On the contrary, by having a dedicated Customs Area for the SOWSG, the Customs Formalities were significantly accelerated 3 Issues related to Passport Control and default The Airport Services had required from the travelling documents competent Authority of AIA to provide dedicated booths for the control of passports & other travelling documents, in order for the Delegations not to spend unnecessary time in long queues together with other passengers arriving at the same time

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4. MAJOR ISSUES WITH OTHER FAs List all major issues encountered in your cooperation with other FAs during the Games and/or other issues observed during the ATHENS 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games

N Functional Area Issue Description o 1 Airport Services was in close cooperation with all other FA’s present at the Airport (Credentialing Services, Transport Services, Families’ Services, Honored Guests Services, Delegations’ Services) and is proud to announce that no major issues were encountered as the collaboration was of very high standards. Issues of minor importance and of routine nature were always dealt swiftly and on ad-hoc basis.

5. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL Please list of all supplementary material that you would like to include in the transfer of knowledge process (i.e. publications, staffing numbers, presentations, etc.)