Airline News
Conflict over Skymark rescue package
July 13th 2015
Skymark Airlines and its largest creditor, U.S. leasing firm Intrepid Aviation, last week clashed head-on at a Tokyo creditors briefing session, with Intrepid voicing stiff opposition to Skymark’s proposed rehabilitation plan, raising questions about Skymark’s future independence if it was to receive assistance from ANA Holdings. Read More »
The turnaround plan requires Skymark to issue 18 billion yen of shares for allotment to private equity fund Integral Corp., ANA Holdings and a fund to be jointly set up by the government-affiliated Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. ANA Holdings, Integral and the DBJ-Sumitomo Mitsui fund would own equity of 50.1%, 16.5% and 33.4%, respectively.
ANA Holdings director, Toyoyuki Nagamine, asked creditors to support the ANA-backed rehabilitation plan, according to those present at the “heated” July 7 gathering. He was quoted as emphasizing that "stable rehabilitation of Skymark would be achieved and its transactions could be continued" through joint operations and joint procurement of fuel and other materials," adding "Skymark would determine its own fares and routes, and we'd have no concern with these matters".
Intrepid and ANA continue to be in a bitter standoff, partly because ANA initially considered taking over Skymark’s A330 leases from Intrepid, but later refused to do so. Intrepid has scheduled its own creditors briefing for July 15 where it will present its independent rehabilitation plan for Skymark.
To approve one of the rehabilitation plans, a proposal must win support from a majority of Skymark creditors and those who have a majority of overall loans to the airline. Intrepid is Skymark’s largest creditor, holding 38.1% of the loans, followed by Airbus (28.9%), Rolls-Royce (15.7%) and leasing firm CIT Group (13.5%).
Airbus is expected to play a key role in the dispute. The manufacturer has urged ANA Holdings to pick up the six A380s Skymark had planned to buy, but no agreement has been reached between Toulouse and Tokyo on the matter. Airbus has displayed a reluctance to support the ANA-backed plan and could vote for Intrepid’s proposition at the August 5 meeting of creditors in which both plans will be put to a vote.
Elsewhere in Japanese aviation, Jetstar Japan last week celebrated its third anniversary. Chairman Masaru Kataoka said the carrier has transported nine million cumulative passengers to date and sees “imminent” achievement of the 10 million passenger milestone. In the past three years the budget carrier expanded its fleet from three to 20 A320s, while its network grew from two to 21 routes, with its maximum daily services increasing from six to 100. At rival Peach Aviation, the budget carrier has announced it will become the first Japanese LCC to fly international, from Haneda, as it plans an August 8 launch of six-weekly A320 operations to Taipei.
