Hong Kong Trade Development Council chairman Jack So Chak-kwong is expected to be appointed to the board of the Airport Authority. The move is seen as a step for So to eventually take over as the authority chairman, succeeding Marvin Cheung Kin-tung, who had feuded with board member Vincent Lo Hong-sui over the use of a site in the northern part of Chek Lap Kok airport.

Their dispute was whether the land should be used for commercial activities or reserved as the future depot for a planned unmanned train system. Lo, the Shui On Group chairman who is a key supporter of chief executive Leung Chun-ying, was once a frontrunner to succeed Cheung. But the chances of that happening dimmed after the row.

So, 68, is expected to take the seat after the terms of some board members end next month. So is believed to be stepping down from the council in September after serving since October 2007. CY Leung reappointed So as chairman for one year from last October. So – chairman of the government’s Consultative Committee on Economic and Trade Co-operation between Hong Kong and the Mainland – is reportedly being groomed to succeed Cheung when his term ends in May next year.

So once served as chairman of MTR Corp and deputy chairman and group managing director of PCCW. The authority’s chief executive, Stanley Hui Hon-chung, will step down in July. He tendered his resignation to the airport authority end of last year.