Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the City of Atlanta will help prepare Chinese aviation officials for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games during an Oct. 29-Nov. 1 seminar on airport security and preparedness.

Some 30 government and aviation industry officials from Beijing are to attend the conference that will share lessons learned from Atlanta’s experience in leveraging the Olympics for future economic growth.

“We think the City of Atlanta has much to offer to China in terms of best practice sharing. As one of the busiest airports in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson has one of the best infrastructures in terms of efficiency, strategy and contribution to the economic development of the City of Atlanta,” said Alex Mejia, deputy executive director of CIFAL Atlanta, a United Nations affiliate that has organized the event.

“The 1996 Olympics proved to be an excellent training ground in preparing the airport and Atlanta to provide the best in safety and security for millions of visitors in addition to typical passengers,” added Ben DeCosta, the Atlanta airport’s general manager.

The conference will discuss airport security plans, disaster preparedness, crisis management, emergency responses, terrorism prevention, logistics and long-term economic vitality.

The seminar commences at 8 a.m., Monday, Nov. 30, at the Atlanta airport’s Executive Conference Center with an address by Mario Diaz, deputy general manager of the airport. Also to speak is Gao Shiqing, vice president of Capital Airports Holding Co., a consortium of 30 Chinese airports.

Other Chinese officials, including executives from the Civil Aviation Authority of China and the Beijing Olympic Committee, are to attend.

The event concludes on Wednesday, Nov. 1, with a closing ceremony at 11 a.m. at the World Trade Center Atlanta featuring Mr. DeCosta and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

A luncheon at the airport’s Executive Conference Center on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 12 p.m. is to include a keynote address by Jim Whitehurst, chief operating officer for Delta Air Lines Inc. Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and Craig Lesser, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, are to speak at a rooftop reception at the Metro Chamber at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The conference follows two separate visits to China this year by Ms. Franklin and Mr. Lesser to promote Delta’s proposal for a non-stop flight between Atlanta and Beijing, lobby for a Chinese consulate in Atlanta and seek a location for a Georgia office to open in China in 2007.

Hartsfield-Jackson has been working with CIFAL Atlanta, the North American affiliate of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, to organize conferences to train airport officials from around the world on aviation excellence.

The conference was organized with the support of the Center for Air Commerce at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, Delta, IBM Corp., Oshkosh Truck Corp., SITA, Tsinghua University in Beijing and Unisys Corp.

Organizing partners include Alston & Bird LLP, Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, Georgia China Alliance, Georgia Department of Economic Development, L3 Communications Inc., Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Reece & Associates and Zoo Atlanta.

For more information on the conference, visit the CIFAL Atlanta web site at www.cifalatlanta.org.