A drill in which 2,500 "passengers" had participated to test the overall operation of the Guangzhou New Baiyun International Airport comes out successfully Thursday (May 19th).

The "passengers" include government officials, college students, retirees and housewives selected from the city's ten districts who were in good health and had no bad records, an airport spokesman told Guangzhou Daily newspaper.

The airport has 98 buses pick up the "passengers" around 6:30 a.m., the spokesman says.

Upon their arrival, the airport distributed "luggage" and "boarding passes" to "passengers," who then go through security checks and boarding gates in a simulated boarding procedure, according to SZ Daily.

In order to make the test as real as possible, workers at the airport put banned materials like wine and knives into some luggage to check the security at the airport, says Radio Guangdong.

The new airport opens different kinds of passages for security inspection, including ten at the International and Domestic Departure Hall, one at the VIP Lounge, and ten particularly for the employees.

According to SZ Daily, Thursday's drill is the one of three drills planned to test the overall operating efficiency of the new airport, with about 50 percent of the airport's capacity of 9,300 passengers arriving and departing per hour. The next two drills will be conducted using higher loads in June.

The New Baiyun International Airport is expected to open June 28.

Six bus routes will be added to coincide with the opening, linking the airport with downtown Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Zhongshan, says the newspaper.

Some 2,500 "passengers" participate in the simulated boarding procedure. (By Zhou Xin)

A number of "passengers" enter the Waiting Hall.

The simulated boarding procedure

The "passenger", Lin Yuanhe, Deputy Mayor of Guangzhou City, is receiving the "security inspection".

The "passengers" are taking with them the particular airline tickets issued for this drill.

The Bellmen "at work"

The "passengers" are taking the lift to the waiting area.

The strict security inspection, with help of the world-class Baggage Automatic Handling System and the five-level Security Inspection System

Policemen, doctors and volunteers also participate in the drill.

The payphone at the new airport, through which phone calls can be paid with IC Cards, 200 Cards as well as the Yangcheng Public Transportation Cards

Editor: Catherine