On July 10, China Eastern Airlines launched its first special exercise at Beijing Daxing International Airport. Covering the arrival, departure, connection, and baggage sorting processes for domestic and international passengers, the exercise adopted a preset "special scenario" mode to simulate a number of processes, such as services for premium travelers, travelers with special needs and check-in for oversized baggage.

More than 200 employees from multiple units including China Eastern Airlines' Ground Service Department at Daxing Airport, the Beijing Branch Office of China Eastern Airlines and China United Airlines participated in the exercise. The exercise also marked the beginning of six large-scale comprehensive exercises of Daxing Airport in which China Eastern Airlines is a part and nine special exercises to be organized by China Eastern Airlines itself.

Real Scenario Simulation

At 07:00 AM of July 10, participants from China Eastern Airlines' Ground Service Department at Daxing Airport was ready and waiting. At 08:30 AM, ground service staff wearing uniforms of China Eastern Airlines entered the check-in counters at Daxing Airport for the first time and began to check in departing passengers for the simulation flight MU519A.

With a smile, Zhang Qi, a ground service staff who participated in the special exercise, greeted "traveler" Mr. Wang who came to the counter to check in. Mr. Wang needed to check an oversized bag, and after checking Mr. Wang in, the staff led him to the oversized bag check-in counter to check the bag. Then a traveler Ms Liu came to the counter to apply for wheelchair service. The check-in staff greeted her cordially, submitted her application information, filled out relevant forms, and arranged for special service staff, check-in of traveler's wheelchair and hand-over at the gate.

Finally, all passengers on flight MU519 were checked in 40 minutes before the take-off time, and 25 passengers and 25 checked baggage were handled through CUSS machine, self-service check-in equipment and manual service. Other processes including load control, baggage transportation, gate service, passenger arrival and baggage claim were also simulated for the flight.

Acting as the operation center for the first special exercise, the Control Center of China Eastern Airlines at Daxing Airport dispatched on-site personnel to control each process node during the exercise. Customer service, baggage, loading and unloading, and apron personnel from the Control Center were mainly responsible for providing fast and efficient solutions to process monitoring, node control and special case handling. The exercise ended at 12:30 PM of July 10. A total of 11 arrival and departure flights as well as 284 travelers were handled during the 4-hour exercise.

"The exercise simulated real scenario after Daxing Airport was put into service and marked the first test of China Eastern Airlines' overall capabilities to organize and control ground service, handle passengers and baggage at the airport. We'll evaluate the exercise results to prepare for addition of content to future exercises and to improve future exercise results," said the head of China Eastern Airlines who was in charge of the special exercise.

Permanent Electronic Bag Tag tested at Daxing Airport for the First Time

Frequent travelers are quite familiar with this: affix the printed bag tag to your bag with adhesive sticker and expect your checked bag to appear again at the destination airport. However, this checked bag model is about to change as mobile internet technology develops, airlines invest in new technologies and automation becomes widely adopted.

Another highlight of the exercise was the first close beta test of China Eastern Airlines' "permanent electronic bag tag (EBT)", which not only counted China Eastern Airlines as the first Chinese airlines to launch a permanent EBT, but also marked a specific practice of helping build Daxing Airport into a green and smart airport by China Eastern Airlines.

During the 18-day period from July 10 to July 28, China Eastern Airlines will run EBT operation test at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, Shanghai Pudong Airport, Beijing Capital Airport and Beijing Daxing Airport. It will take advantage of the exercise at Daxing Airport to carry out thorough test of the EBT in terms of its safety, performance and emergency responsiveness, conduct data analysis and further optimization to prepare for field tests. China Eastern Airlines is expected to carry out field tests in Shanghai at the end of July, and travelers flying China Eastern Airlines between Beijing and Shanghai will have the opportunity to experience the new service.

It is reported that before Daxing Airport is formally launched into service, China Eastern Airlines plans to complete 538 exercise items on 98 simulation flights, handling 10,560 simulation passengers and 7,300 simulation baggage with over 4,000 exercise participating personnel, 670 vehicles and all kinds of production systems. As the exercise moves forward, China Eastern Airlines will continue to improve its workflow to contribute to the smooth operation of Daxing Airport.

Contributed by China Eastern Airlines