It's the first impression for those arriving in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics. It will also be their last.

The airport experience could easily cast a shadow over the international competitions if things are not done right.

Matthew Levesque, a maintenance manager at the Vancouver airport, realized that something was not right a few years ago when he saw skiers struggling with an airport luggage cart. "They put one ski bag on a porter cart, but then that bag took up the entire thing, and they could not load it up with anything else," Mr. Levesque said. "There's just not a nice way to stack on top of a ski bag."

The problem would be magnified during the Games. Winter Olympians travel with six or seven bags, many of them oversized. Mr. Levesque took the lead in designing new carts for oversized baggage after failing to find anything to handle skis properly.

The carts are among numerous changes at Vancouver International Airport that were made in time for the Olympics. If all goes well, many of the improvements may pass completely unnoticed.

Paul Levy, who headed up the airport's planning for the Games, said recently that travellers flying to Vancouver will become part of the Olympic celebrations as soon as they step off the plane.

Large Olympic banners are draped throughout the terminal. Six stores scattered around the airport sell Olympic paraphernalia. As travellers step outside, they will see the front of the building wrapped in the iconic green-and-blue Olympic designs. They will have the option of taking the new rapid rail link, the Canada Line, into the city. Five huge illuminated Olympic rings have been erected along the road from the airport.

However, many of the changes will be less obvious. Almost half of the airport's staff of 400 have been moved from their desk jobs into the terminal to help passengers, bags and aircraft move more efficiently through the airport.

The airport has also boosted its staff for cleaning the facilities, retrieving baggage carts from the parking lots and delivering checked bags to the carousel. All 41 customs booths will be fully staffed throughout the day.
Staffing has also been increased for pre-boarding and baggage screening.

Contingency plans are in place if the automated baggage system breaks down for even five minutes, Mr. Levy said. The bags will be moved manually to ensure they do not pile up.

"I'm not saying there will not be lineups, but they will be manageable," Mr. Levy said. "People will move through fairly quickly."

The changes reflect lessons learned in previous Olympic cities. Vancouver brought in officials from four past Games - in Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens and Turin - for four days to pick their brains, Mr. Levy said.

Vancouver airport officials showed off their plans. "We allowed them to kick the tires," he said.

One piece of advice was to prepare for the day after. People arrive in waves over several days before the Games, but almost everyone wants to leave at the same time - on the day after closing ceremonies.

So Vancouver built a separate temporary facility to process 10,000 passengers, about one-quarter of the anticipated traffic on March 1. "We do not want to see the long lineups like Salt Lake City had and other cities saw for their departures," Mr. Levy said, adding that the new building will continue to be used after the Games, possibly for storage.

Olympic athletes and their families, as well as dignitaries, Olympic officials, sponsors and media will be bused directly to the remote terminal for pre-board screening, and then taken by bus directly to the departure gate.
Airlines are also setting up check-in facilities in the athletes' villages in Vancouver and Whistler.

Mr. Levesque said he worked on redesigning the baggage cart with a fabricator in Richmond, B.C. The Olympics operating committee tested the prototype and proposed changes. A health-and-safety group vetted the cart for noise, saying the wheels were too loud on the airport's tile floors. Airlines tried out the carts when ski teams came to Vancouver.

The airport now has 160 carts that can each hold up to six oversized pieces of luggage.

"I'm very happy with the cart. I've pushed it with a full load to try it out, and it actually is working out really well," Mr. Levesque said. "I think it will be a big benefit for us."