IOC president Thomas Bach arrives in Sochi

Officials for the International Olympic Committee, led by president Thomas Bach, have arrived in Sochi ahead of the 2014 Winter Games.

Landing at the newly completed Sochi International Airport, the delegation will begin preparations for the Games, which begin on February 6th.

Bach, who succeeded Jacques Rogge as president of the IOC on September 10 last year, will attend the Opening Ceremony of the 22nd Winter Olympic Games on Thursday.

Sochi International Airport, the main Olympic gateway also served 66 delegates on Friday who arrived from Istanbul, Zurich, Frankfurt, Munich as well as from other cities with a transit in Moscow.

Among the air carriers handled IOC members are Aeroflot, S7, Oreanair, Balkan Holidays Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa.

The airport will handle no less than 52,000 passengers on peak days.

During the upcoming week it will serve up to 25,000 people every day.

It takes only 45 seconds to check-in an economy class passenger while waiting time for check-in does not exceed 15 minutes.

The airport’s handling capacity will increase from 2,500 to 3,800 passengers per hour during the Games what fully complies with the IOC requirements.

In order to ensure the higher quality of services, the airport has doubled its staff with the personnel from other Russian airports, air carriers and cadets of aviation schools.