More than 3,000 mainland Chinese and Macau drivers have registered for a scheme that allows them to leave their vehicles near Hong Kong airport before boarding a flight, with a minister hailing the opening of a parking facility for the policy as “a milestone”.

The “Park and Fly” scheme’s automatic car park, situated near the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, welcomed its first batch of cross-border users on Saturday.

The policy allows users to leave their vehicles at the facility so they can arrive at the check-in counters for their flights within 30 minutes.

“We had not thought this could be realised in our border facilities, and it is a historical moment for the airport’s service to extend to here,” Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said at a welcome event on Saturday.

“It is also the starting point and a milestone for the government’s Southbound Travel Scheme for Guangdong Vehicles.”

Drivers from Macau, Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhuhai can open accounts to reserve parking slots at the facility, which is run by Hong Kong airport, before they park their vehicles and board a flight.