Skymark Airlines (BC, Tokyo Haneda) President and CEO Shinichi Nishikubo has rejected calls from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLITT) for his airline to partner both ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) and JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda) claiming they “defied common sense" and were "divorced from the logic of private-sector enterprise."
Last week, the struggling budget carrier confirmed it would hold talks with ANA about a possible code-share agreement, barely two weeks after it announced preliminary talks with rival JAL about a similar proposal.
Talks between Skymark and ANA will focus on codesharing on Skymark’s 36 round-trip flights on five routes connecting Tokyo Haneda with Sapporo Chitose, Fukuoka, among other destinations.
While ANA has said it would be interested in codesharing with Skymark, it is reluctant to pursue a three-way agreement that would also benefit rival JAL.
In any case, according to local media, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is understood to have opposed tie-up talks with JAL on the grounds that the carrier already benefited greatly from the previous Democratic Party administration's policies at ANA's expense. Above all they fear a JAL partnership with Skymark could undermine fair competition in the Japanese domestic aviation market.
The ZipanguFlyer blog quotes the Nikkei newspaper as saying Skymark is also in talks with four foreign and domestic investment funds over the possible sale of a stake of up to 25%, aimed at raising up to JPY6billion (USD49.8million). Nishikubo says funds raised would be used to pay early-return penalties for some of its leased Boeing B737s and to stay afloat until a code-sharing pact comes into effect.
