27 Facts About Skymark Airlines

Skymark Airlines Inc is a Japanese low-cost airline headquartered at Haneda Airport in Ota, Tokyo, Japan.

Skymark Airlines was founded in November 1996 as an independent domestic airline after deregulation of the Japanese airline industry and started operations on 19 September 1998.

Skymark Airlines was able to obtain six slots at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in March 1997 and moved its headquarters to the Hamamatsucho district of Tokyo in March 1998.

In 2002, Skymark Airlines took delivery of a third Boeing 767 aircraft and began service on the Haneda-Kagoshima route, as well as charter service from Haneda to Seoul.

On 11 December 2003, Skymark Airlines announced that it expected a profit of 470 million yen for the half-fiscal year ending on 31 October, the first profit made since the airline began operations.

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Skymark Airlines purchased the naming rights for the Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium from 2005 to 2010.

Skymark Airlines announced in April 2010 that it would commence a "Narita Shuttle" service from Narita International Airport to Asahikawa, Sapporo, Fukuoka, and Okinawa in late 2011 and early 2012.

In November 2010 Skymark Airlines announced negotiations with Airbus for an order of four Airbus A380 aircraft and two options, making it the first Japanese airline to order the type.

Nishikubo envisioned an unheard-of fully-flat product in economy class, which the Skymark Airlines team calculated would break even at a one-way fare of 100,000 yen.

Skymark Airlines had plans to install "Green Seat" cabins on its 737 fleet to create a 2-class configuration but cancelled the plan in early 2014 in favor of keeping a single-class 737 fleet for competition with other LCCs.

Somewhat controversially, Skymark Airlines announced that A330 flight attendants would wear miniskirt uniforms, in contrast to Skymark Airlines's usual polo shirt uniforms, for the first six months of operation of each route.

Skymark Airlines's finances were hit hard by foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

In February 2011, when Skymark Airlines placed its initial A380 order, the Japanese yen was trading at historically high levels of around 82 yen to the US dollar.

Skymark Airlines recorded its first net loss in five years for the March 2013 – 2014 fiscal year.

In early February 2014, Skymark Airlines announced that it would downsize the Narita operation to only three destinations.

Skymark Airlines expressed some reservations about the A330 fleet plan, stating that while the airline had funding in place for the first two aircraft, the third and subsequent deliveries could be impacted by the performance of Skymark's domestic operation as well as the success of its initial international service.

Skymark Airlines planned to re-deploy 737s from the Narita and Haneda bases for charter services to destinations such as Guam.

Skymark Airlines's A330s entered service on the Haneda-Fukuoka route in June 2014, but the additional seat capacity depressed Skymark Airlines's load factors on the route.

However, the Japanese government pressed Skymark Airlines to make the codeshare trilateral with both JAL and ANA, reflecting the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's preference for ANA.

Skymark Airlines attempted a sale and leaseback of over 1 billion yen in equipment as a cash-raising measure, negotiating with a JAL-affiliated trading company and then with an ANA-affiliated trading company.

Intrepid Aviation and Airbus, who together held around two-thirds of Skymark Airlines's debt, opposed the plan, and Intrepid submitted a competing plan which called for another airline to sponsor Skymark Airlines's restructuring.

Skymark Airlines focused its network expansion on its hubs in Kobe and Ibaraki, and announced plans for 150 daily flights in summer 2018, up from 138 in summer 2017.

Skymark Airlines announced in June 2018 that it intended to offer international charter flights from Narita to Saipan and Palau, its first international services, with the flights to Saipan subsequently becoming scheduled flights in late 2019.

The six 767s acquired by Skymark Airlines carried registrations JA767A to JA767F; the seventh, JA8255, was leased from All Nippon Airways from 2003 to 2004.

Skymark Airlines ceased flying the A330 and most of the 737s during its bankruptcy in 2015.

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All A380 orders from Skymark Airlines were rescinded as well, although All Nippon Airways proceeded to take three of the five original orders.

Skymark Airlines planned to introduce a frequent-flyer program in January 2014 to coincide with the launch of its premium domestic service, though the induction of the program was delayed in December 2013 in order to focus on preparing for international service, before being postponed indefinitely.