Skymark Airlines (BC, Tokyo Haneda) relinquished leases for all ten of its A330-300s with effect from March 13. Quoting local Japanese media sources, the ZipanguFlyer blog states that of a total of seven that were to be leased from US-based Intrepid Aviation, four had been delivered, while of the three that were to have been leased from CIT Aerospace, only one had been delivered.
As the first operator of the type in the country, Skymark had the jets delivered with 271 seats in a 2-3-2 high-density configuration for use on Japanese trunk domestic routes including Fukuoka, Sapporo Chitose, and Okinawa Naha. However, the aircraft's large capacity soon proved problematic for the carrier which was forced to sell premium class seats at below market rates in a bid to keep occupancy levels satisfactory.
The fate of the A330s is currently unknown though as reported last week, AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International) has expressed an interest in taking over their leases for onward placement with AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International).
Skymark is currently in the midst of bankruptcy with total liabilities standing at JPY71 billion (USD603 million), excluding the USD700 million in penalties Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) is seeking for the cancellation of the A380-800 order.
