Skymark Airlines (BC, Tokyo Haneda) filed for bankruptcy protection on January 29 after the airline's management found the carrier could no longer cover its liabilities, said to amount to more than JPY100billion (USD850 million).
Skymark's Chief Financial Officer Masakazu Arimori took over from President Shinichi Nishikubo at a recent board meeting to determine the way forward and is now the carrier's new President and CEO.
Faced with claims from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for JPY70billion (USD682million) in cancellation fees for six A380-800s, Skymark has been forced to take drastic action insofar as its operations are concerned.
At a press conference, the carrier announced it will cut 15% of its flights and retire its entire fleet of six A330-300s from February 1. Skymark plans to return all A330-300s to the lessors and cancel outstanding orders for four more aircraft of the type. Starting March 29, the carrier will also terminate its Sendai-Sapporo Chitose route will ending services to Ishigaki and Miyakojima altogether (both airports are currently served three times weekly from Okinawa Naha).
Earlier this month, Skymark announced it was in talks with four undisclosed investment funds all of which are willing to plough "billions of yen" into the company in return for a 25% shareholding. A decision is set to be made at a shareholders AGM next month.
According to the ZipanguFlyer blog, the carrier is preparing to submit a codeshare plan to the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) in which ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) will place its code on all five of Skymark's Tokyo Haneda routes - Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kobe, Okinawa Naha, and Sapporo Chitose - while JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda) will place its code on all flights except those to Kobe, where it no longer has a presence.
