Bankrupt carrier Skymark Airlines Inc. is weighing the possibility of starting overseas flights and is set to unveil a business plan by April as part of its turnaround, Chairman Nobuo Sayama said.
The plan will cover as many as five years starting April 1 and includes a consideration for an initial share sale by 2020, Sayama said in a Feb. 25 interview in Tokyo. At the end of this month, the company will exit a court-mandated rehabilitation program led by private equity firm Integral Corp., which owns a 50.1 percent stake. ANA Holdings Inc. has 16.5 percent of the company and a fund established by the Development Bank of Japan Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. owns the rest.
ANA, which is supporting Skymark in areas including code-sharing and aircraft maintenance, said it will not provide the overhaul needed for two of the carrier's Boeing 737s to be certified as airworthy unless the smaller airline adopts its flight-booking system, Sayama said. Skymark will not agree to use ANA's system because doing so will erode its independence, he said.
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