A sixth terminal is to be built at London's Heathrow Airport to cope with the influx of passengers over the Olympics.
The temporary structure will be erected on an old car park site between Terminals Four and Five to help cope with a massive increase in passenger numbers.
August 14, the day after the Olympic closing ceremony is likely to be the busiest 24 hours in the airport's history.
Departing passenger numbers on that day are expected to be around 138,000 - 45% up on the normal level of around 95,000 - and the number of bags up 35%.
The day before the Olympic opening ceremony, July 26, is also expected to be extremely busy.
"The London 2012 Games will be a unique operational task and a massive challenge for Heathrow." said Nick Cole, head of Olympic and Paralympic planning at the airport.
"The airport is one of the most popular international airports in the world and already operates close to capacity. Every part of the airport is working together to ensure we can give the athletes a warm welcome and ensure all passengers enjoy the atmosphere."
Olympic organisers and the owners of Heathrow are well aware that the airport will provide the first and last impression of Britain for visitors to the Games as well as for athletes and visiting dignitaries.
Among the specifics that need to be organised are the procedures for a large number of firearms that will pass through the airport.
The document outlining Heathrow's preparations for the games says: "All passengers will travel through the normal customs procedures when arriving. We do, however, expect a higher number of firearms to come through the airport due to the shooting events."
The 390 athletes involved in the Olympic shooting competitions will be bringing a total of 780 firearms into the country. The Paralympics will have 140 athletes with 200 firearms.
All of the firearms will be collected from competitors on arrival, processed and then transported to the shooting venue in Woolwich where they will be reunited with the Olympians.
Another issue the Heathrow operators need to tackle is the increased number of wheelchair users.
"On a normal day, we might have two wheelchair users on a flight. Over the Olympics there could be 10 or 15 Paralympic competitors arriving on a particular flight," a BAA spokesman told Sky News.
"Special narrow wheelchairs need to be used to help them off the plane. Their own chairs then need to be handed back to them. We need the public to understand that this takes time."
Officials from LOCOG , the organisers of the Olympics and BAA, who run Heathrow, have spent 18 months planning for the Games and have visited a number of previous venues including Athens.
Mr Cole dismissed suggestions that the number of scheduled flights into and out of Heathrow would be cut in July and August to ease congestion.
"Our primary purpose will be to protect our scheduled carriers." he said. "During the games period we will not allow any private flights to land at Heathrow and we also won't allow any charter aircraft to land on certain days."
Olympic silver medallist Colin Jackson told Sky News: "BAA have really done a cracking job in creating something that will help the athletes skate their way through from airside to landslide and off to the coaches and on to the Olympic village.
"As you can imagine, most athletes are very stressed after long journeys and are looking just at the Olympic games and don't want to be worrying about how I get from one section of the airport to another."
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