Airline News
ANA: “Yes” to Skymark rescue
March 2nd 2015
Japan's biggest airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA), has officially confirmed it was considering injecting capital into Skymark Airlines as part of a rehabilitation plan for the bankrupt carrier. Read More » "This morning, we submitted documents to show our intention to participate in the sponsorship, but we can't comment further now,'' an ANA spokeswoman said this week.
Besides ANA, some 20 investors have applied to help rescue Skymark, according to Japanese media reports. The AirAsia Group, through its Japanese subsidiary, tyemporarily defunct Japan AirAsia, has applied to be a sponsor, the Kyodo News agency reported. Laswt July, the Malaysia-based LCC group announced plans to set up a new budget arm in Japan, its second attempt to tap the Japanese market after it ended a joint-venture with ANA over cultural and systems compatibility issues. Japanese national carrier, Japan Airlines (JAL), has continued to rule out providing Skymark with a lifeline, but said it was interested in codesharing with the Narita-based carrier.
In addition to Narita, Skymark holds valuable slots at Tokyo's Haneda International Airport, which makes it attractive to potential investors. A 9 billion-yen sponsorship deal with Tokyo-based fund, Integral Corp., and the partial grounding of its fleet, has kept Skymark in the air since it filed for protection from creditors on January 28, blaming a weak yen and a dispute with manufacturer Airbus Group for its financial woes. At press time, it had liabilities of 71.09 billion yen ($596.24 million).
As Japan’s third-largest carrier, it plans to soon draw up its final list of sponsors present its rehabilitation plan to Tokyo District Court by May 29.
