Airline News
ANA still considering Skymark investment?
February 10th 2015
According to a report in The Japan Times last week, ANA Holdings, owner of All Nippon Airways (ANA), said it might come to the rescue of troubled Skymark Airlines, a budget carrier and Japan’s third-largest. Read More » Prior to that, Tokyo-based private equity firm Integral Corp. has said it would provide financing to help the carrier restructure, subject to regulatory approval.
Skymark filed for protection from creditors on January 28, citing a weak yen and a dispute with the Airbus Group over unpaid deposits totalling $710 million for a $2 billion contract for six A380s that was revoked by Airbus in July amid Skymark’s growing financial concerns. Following repeated inquiries from This Week in Asia-Pacific Aviation, Airbus has said there was nothing to add to last week’s statement that said its dispute with Skymark was “a matter for the courts now”. Meanwhile, Skymark has said in a filing with the Tokyo District Court that its total liabilities amount to 71.09 billion yen ($605 million).
Following the filings, Skymark's chairman, Takashi Ide, said the carrier would “stop using the A330s from February" in favour of a single-model fleet of 28 Boeing B737-800 aircraft. Tokyo-based Skymark had only last year started leased A330 operations and was planning to add ten of the type to its fleet.
