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Joseph Lo

The Airport Authority is on a bit of a roll these days.

Shortly  after finalising a 1.99 billion yuan investment in Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in Zhejiang province, the authority's chief executive, David Pang Ding-jung, was in Beijing earlier this week lobbying for the right to set up a mainland immigration checkpoint at Chek Lap Kok.

Apparently, local authorities have already approved the idea and it can only be surmised that the central government is warming to it as well.

What is the significance of such a checkpoint for Hong Kong International Airport?

According to Mr Pang, it would effectively transform Chek Lap Kok into a de facto mainland airport.

Air travellers would get 'the feeling that once you're in Hong Kong, you've also entered China', he said.

The positive benefits of such a plan could be phenomenal for Chek Lap Kok's  development, probably even more so than the strategy of investing in mainland airports.

Certainly from the viewpoint of making positive financial returns, a sound case can be made that investing in medium-sized growth airports across the border makes sense.

In the case of Xiaoshan airport, its proximity to Shanghai allows it to grow as an alternative air hub,  while its nearness to Hangzhou's own booming commercial and tourism development makes it as close to a sure winner as you can get as a medium or long-term bet.

But investment profits aside, the Airport Authority's most pressing issues have always been how to cement its position as a gateway into the mainland and tap the growing hunger for international air travel from mainland residents across the Pearl River Delta.

Despite its official public relations line - and its earlier proposals to buy into the Shenzhen or Zhuhai airports coupled with high-speed rail or ferry links - there has always been scepticism that investments in mainland airports would help solve those key issues.

The answer for Hong Kong International Airport, of course, is better and more seamless connectivity to the mainland.

An integrated immigration checkpoint system between Hong Kong and the mainland is a step towards providing it.

When Mr Pang spoke to reporters about the plan, he outlined a concept to mirror the system currently in place between Canada and the United States, where passengers who are transiting to the US via Canadian airports are cleared by US immigration officers based in Canada.

But that is not all those two countries did. They also  coupled it with the 1995 signing of the trans-border accord - a form of limited open skies - that has helped  transform some Canadian airports, such as Toronto's Pearson International Airport, into viable gateways for international transit traffic bound for the US by lowering the inconvenience barrier for travellers.

As a measure of the combined benefits of the North American system, passenger traffic between the US and Canada grew from about 13 million in 1995 to more than 20 million in 2000.

Ironically, it has also helped Canadian carriers, despite initial fears that they would be swamped by their larger US counterparts.

The Canadian flag carrier, Air Canada, saw services to the US grow from 14 US cities in 1995 to more than 50  last year.

Indeed, Air Canada has emerged as a key champion for full integration of the two aviation markets, along the lines of Europe's common aviation market, which would allow unrestricted cross-border airline ownership and access to domestic markets, known as cabotage in industry parlance.

This will happen, as the two governments have already  begun tentative steps towards negotiating such a pact.

In outlining his plan for integrated immigration, Mr Pang said Chek Lap Kok needed to find more ways to integrate with the mainland for sustainable growth.

If we are really to follow the US-Canada model, then integration of immigration procedures should be only a first step. The next, and more critical step, will be a roadmap towards open skies between Hong Kong and the mainland.

Only that, coupled with integration of immigration, will stamp us as a true China gateway.



Chek Lap Kok only at border of being mainland gateway