Unlike the Olympic Family, who arrived in Beijing just one or two days ahead of the opening ceremony, the Paralympic Family arrived one week prior to the commencement of the Paralympics.  This is because the athletes needed more time to adapt to venues and become familiar with their environment. During the first day of Paralympic security service for Air China, CNAC General Manager and Air China Chairman, Kong Dong, Air China President Cai Jianjiang, and Vice-President Yang Lihua, arrived in succession at Terminal 3 to inspect and offer guidance to ground services staff. On August 30, 2008, Air China ushered in its busiest day of inbound Paralympic delegation flights, during which a total of 30 inbound Paralympic flights were secured, carrying in excess of 1,400 people, 2,000 pieces of baggage and 400 wheelchairs of various types.  Air China also welcomed the first Paralympic delegation – the Mexican Paralympic Delegation of 64 members, carried by flight CA984.

At 4:10am, wheelchair reception preparations had begun.  At 4:19am and 4:32am, disabled vehicle preparation and equipment support personnel took their respective posts.  With the constantly changing information in the flight management system, Air China carried out systematic ground security preparations at dawn.  Various stations stood poised to meet the inbound flights a half an hour in advance.  At 5:10am, Air China flight CA984, carrying the Mexican Paralympic Delegation, landed and stopped at gate T3E-510.  There were 34 wheelchair athletes in the delegation.  With a clear division of labor, Air China ground services staff carried out their respective duties and wasted no time unloading and performing other security tasks.  The Mexican Paralympic Delegation traveled first with Mexico Airlines to Los Angeles and then transferred to Air China flight CA984 to Beijing. However, due to insufficient loading capacity on the departing Mexico Airlines flight, more than 50 pieces of baggage were sent separately to the delegation.  After being informed of this situation, the baggage check staff of Air China ground services department actively contacted Mexico Airlines, who carried out baggage registration for the delegation.  It was confirmed that the unshipped baggage would be transported to Tokyo by Mexico Airlines and then to Beijing on Air China flight CA926.  It was planned that the delegation would register in the Paralympic Village and Air China ground services personnel would send their delayed baggage to the village when it arrived.  The leader of the Mexican Paralympic Delegation expressed great satisfaction with the arrangements.

By 9:04am, it was raining heavily. Lufthansa flight LH720 stopped at gate T3E-529, carrying the German and Polish Paralympic delegations, with a total of 172 athletes.  This was the inbound flight carrying the largest number of Paralympic athletes and wheelchairs of the day, including a total of 66 competition and general wheelchairs.  In order to ensure the Paralympic athletes disembarked smoothly, Air China ground services department posted sufficient staff at the boarding gate and on the tarmac, along with four special onboard wheelchairs.  When the aircraft stopped, Air China’s loading staff rapidly began unloading in the rain.  In order to prevent the wheelchairs from getting wet in the rain, which could affect the usage of them by the athletes, three containers carrying wheelchairs were unloaded and pulled under the bridge.  The wheelchairs were then opened and unloaded one-by-one. Since there were many different models of wheelchairs, the unloading methods also varied.  In order to speed up the process, the loading staff sent the wheelchairs one by one to the lift on Floor 2 of the boarding gate from the bridge stairs, and carefully set up the wheelchairs for the Paralympic athletes. While being helped out of the cabin by the ground services personnel, the disabled athletes transferred to their own wheelchairs and took the lift to Floor 3.  After passing through border security inspection and taking the automated people mover (APM) to the international baggage hall, they left the airport. The entire process was precise, orderly and smooth.

Although the peak of inbound flights of Paralympic delegations arrived four or five days earlier than anticipated, Air China ground services department were able to complete their task with thorough preparations and coordinated efforts.