Skymark Airlines (BC, Tokyo Haneda) has reportedly acquiesced to a Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism proposal involving partnering both ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) and JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda) in a bid to revive its sagging fortunes.

Japan's Asahi newswire says Tokyo has remained steadfast on a joint tie-up amid concerns that any deal favouring one of the country's two major carriers would lead to a distortion of the local market. In particular, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been keen to limit support for JAL given its financial bail out by the previous Democratic Party administration.

According to the details of the plan, beginning in either March or April, about 20% of seats on Skymark's flights from Tokyo Haneda to Sapporo Chitose, Kobe, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, and Okinawa Naha will be reserved for either ANA or JAL passengers; a measure, Skymark hopes, will increase revenue by JPY8billion (USD68.84million).

The codeshare agreements will run for a period of five years; long enough, the MLITT believes, for Skymark to recover its financial footing.