Guangzhou officials anticipate a smooth opening for the Baiyun airport after final tests Monday.

The one-hour drill with 1400 "passengers" and 27 "flights" involves all departments for an all-round examination of the airport systems.

Unlike the first two, this drill focused on tests of the baggage-handling systems and airport information systems. The drill also tested problems identified in previous drills.

The first phase of the 18 billion yuan (US$2.17 billion) airport has two runways 3.6km and 3.8km long and is designed to handle 27 million passengers and 1 million tons of cargo a year.

Zhang Chunlin, chairman of the Guangdong Airport Management Company, was quoted by the South China Morning Post as saying all the airport's systems were automated and quite high tech.

The official said the airport had contingency plans to process bags by hand if the baggage sorting system malfunctioned.

Zhang said airport authorities had been training staff since last month to use the new check-in system and this could also go manual if there were any hitches.

The Yangcheng Evening News reported that one piece of luggage from a "domestic flight" and more than 10 from an "international flight" went astray during Monday's trial, a big improvement from the last trial, when baggage did not even make it to the carousel.

The new airport, said to be the largest and most advanced in the nation, will hold a ceremony to mark the completion of the airport August 2 and will open Aug. 5. The existing airport will close the previous day.

(Shenzhen Daily July 28, 2004)