Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games, walks off the plane with the lantern which holds the Olympic flame at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, today. The plane carrying the Beijing Olympic flame arrived in Beijing this morning. --Xinhua

A chartered Air China plane carrying the Beijing Olympic flame touched down at the Beijing Airport this morning.

Beijing Olympics' top organizer Liu Qi walked off the plane, carrying a lantern which holds the sacred flame.

A welcome ceremony for the Olympic flame will be held late this morning at Tian'anmen Square.

The torch relay officially starts on Tuesday in Beijing when the flame is scheduled to depart for Almaty, capital of Kazakhstan on Tuesday.