USA carrier Delta Air Lines Inc., the world’s largest airline, is in talks with the USA aircraft leasing company Intrepid Aviation Ltd. over a possible Delta role in reviving Skymark Airlines. (“Delta”), as the sponsor airline candidate for Skymark Airlines Inc., (“Skymark”) under the Creditors’ Rehabilitation Plan (“Plan”).
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“Intrepid believes this plan offers the best opportunity to preserve Skymark as Japan’s third-largest independent carrier and is in the best interests of the carrier’s employees suppliers and creditors”, the company said in a statement. “As the largest creditor, Intrepid Aviation’s ultimate goal is the successful rehabilitation of Skymark, a goal we have been consistently working toward for several months”.
The move could boost competition in Japan’s closed market for domestic flights, the Nikkei said.
Delta would gain access to 36 slots that Skymark holds at Tokyo’s Haneda airport – the only slots belonging to a budget carrier not linked to the country’s two big airlines. Delta has been looking for a Japanese airline with which it can cooperate in operations.
Delta buying a stake in Skymark, which has been granted about 8 per cent of these slots, would poke a hole in this domestic oligopoly, the report said. However, concerns persist that ANA’s assistance would lead to ANA-JAL’s domination of the domestic market. With over 65 years of operating history in Japan, Delta continues to position Japan as a cornerstone in its Asia Pacific network.
The rehabilitation plan submitted by IPA and that by Skymark will be put to a vote at an August 5 meeting of creditors. “We can contribute to Skymark’s business recovery by providing support”.
The weak point of the IAP plan is that the sponsor has not been selected yet.
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To approve one of the rehabilitation plans, a proposal must win support from both a majority of Skymark creditors and those whose claims form a majority of overall Skymark debts. The situation has been thrown into confusion, and the possibility that both plans would be dismissed has not been ruled out.
