Japan's Skymark files for bankruptcy after A380 buying plan fails

Tokyo

SKYMARK Airlines Inc, Japan's third-largest carrier, filed for bankruptcy protection after a decision to purchase six Airbus Group NV A380 superjumbos flopped. The stock was poised to fall by its daily limit.

The shares were untraded in Tokyo after sell offers outnumbered buy bids by about 215 to 1. The stock is set to fall 25 per cent to the lower limit of 237 yen.

Skymark filed at the Tokyo District Court with 71 billion yen (S$814 million) in liabilities, the carrier said. President Shinichi Nishikubo is standing down and chief financial officer Masakazu Arimori is taking on the role. It will be delisted on March 1, the Tokyo Stock Exchange said.

Skymark, which will get restructuring support from private-equity firm Integral, first flagged in July that there was "material uncertainty" over whether it would remain a going concern following penalty demands for the cancellation of the A380 contracts. Doubts about its ability to fund the planes had led Airbus to scrap the order worth US$2.5 billion in list prices. The carrier is seeking tie-ups with the nation's two largest carriers, Japan Airlines Co…