ALMATY - A chartered Air China plane carrying the Beijing Olympic flame arrived on Tuesday afternoon at Kazakhstan's largest city of Almaty, the first stop of the global torch relay.

Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), holds the Olympic flame upon its arrival at Almaty airport April 1, 2008. [Agencies]

According to the latest news release, the Almaty torch relay will set out from the Medeu ice skating rink at around 12:00 am local time (0600 GMT) on Wednesday.

There will be another four sites for the audience to welcome the Olympic flame -- the Medeu dam in southeastern Almaty, the Republic Palace, the Republic Square and the Astana Square in the downtown area.

Eighty torch bearers will run the 20 kilometers race. After the race, the Olympic flame will head for its next stop -- Istanbul.