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Hong Kong airport authorities have received about 400 applications for new automated parking facilities opening next week, which will allow mainland Chinese visitors to drop their vehicles and arrive at the check-in counters for overseas flights within half an hour. The Airport Authority on Wednesday showcased its fully automated “Park and Fly” car park located within the restricted area of the city’s port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. The five-storey facility, offering 1,800 parking spaces, is a key component of the “Southbound Travel for Guangdong Vehicles” scheme, which aims to enhance connectivity within the Greater Bay Area. The bay area is a central government scheme to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in neighbouring Guangdong province into an economic and business powerhouse. The display came just ahead of the facility’s official opening on November 15, which started to accept reservations from mainland residents earlier this month, while applicants from Macau will be able to make reservations from Thursday. Horace Chan Chi-ho, the authority’s general manager, led a walk-through of the parking bay, showing how the automated vehicle storage system could park vehicles in less than five minutes. He said this could provide a “seamless” experience and offer more choices for travellers. “They can enjoy the arrangement of not needing to go through Hong Kong immigration. This arrangement is actually a part of supporting the government’s ‘Southbound Travel for Guangdong Vehicles’ scheme,” Chan said. “We hope that travellers from the Greater Bay Area can use the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge to conveniently arrive at the airport for their journeys.” Reserved passengers can drive to the car park’s entrance gates within the restricted area, where their car plates are scanned for verification. They then proceed through customs before parking in the designated bay. After parking, passengers confirm their details on a computer system outside the bay and scan their travel documents. They will then take a shuttle bus, running every 15 minutes, to the SkyPier Terminal inside the airport’s restricted area, where they complete check-in and baggage drop before proceeding to their boarding gates for overseas flights. “We expect the whole process from parking to passengers arriving at the SkyPier Terminal will take less than 30 minutes,” Chan said. Chan said the authority expected the facility to handle about 100 vehicles daily during the initial phase, while monitoring demand to expand and fully utilise its capacity. “Out of the five storeys [of the facility], four are for parking and one provides services for passengers being picked up or dropped off. This means you can drop off or pick up family without needing to park. The car park will have 1,800 parking spaces, implemented in phases by the end of the year,” Chan said. Reservations for the “Park and Fly” car park are on a first-come, first-served basis through the authority’s online booking platform, allowing a spot for up to 30 days. The authority said it expected most travellers would park for about a week. Applicants must follow instructions to submit required documents and pay the fees in advance, with the reservation set to be finalised upon confirmation by mainland or Macau authorities. A special discounted parking rate is being offered during the initial phase, with HK$100 (US$13) for the first three days and HK$50 for each subsequent day until February next year. After that, the fee will increase to HK$470 for the first three days. But Chan said the rate could be adjusted based on actual reservation demand. Returning passengers simply confirm their reservation at the transfer counter at E2 in Terminal 1, taking a shuttle bus from the SkyPier Terminal directly to the car park to retrieve their vehicles. Chan added that the governments of the three regions were in close contact with contingency plans in place, including arrangements for inclement weather, to jointly regulate the entry and exit of vehicles.
