The Airport Authority has proposed that the Hong Kong and central governments set up a mainland immigration checkpoint at Chek Lap Kok.
Authority chief executive David Pang Ding-jung said the Hong Kong government had already responded positively and agreed in principle to the proposal.
The proposal comes as the authority embarks on a drive to better integrate with the mainland, seeking to ride on its phenomenal economic growth.
'Hong Kong needs to integrate with the mainland for sustainable growth,' Mr Pang said in Beijing. '[We want to create] the feeling that once you're in Hong Kong, you've also entered China.'
The concept - similar to the system in Canada that allows visitors on transit to the United States to clear US immigration at the country's airports - had been proposed to the Hong Kong and central governments, he said.
However, there would be many technical issues to be ironed out, he added, and it could take at least a few years before such a system would be in place.
