It is truly unfortunate for aviation enthusiasts that Skymark Airlines, my favorite third-largest Japanese airline, filed for bankruptcy protection today.

The primary reason for Skymark’s deteriorating business was the sharp decline in the yen’s exchange rate, which disrupted the company’s international route plans for the A380 (Haneda-New York). To put it simply, the Japanese government’s implementation of “Abenomics” over the past two years artificially suppressed the yen, making it impossible for the company to afford the A380s. Last July, they notified Airbus of the contract termination, but were required to pay huge compensation; since then, negative news about the company has been constant.

Of course, Skymark also made significant efforts, but it was to no avail. Yesterday, they finally made the decision to file for bankruptcy, and the former president, the strongman Shinichi Nishikubo, stepped down. The new president stated that current funding is not an issue and flight operations will not be affected, but honestly, it feels somewhat unreliable.

When the company began operations in 1998, it used Boeing 767-300ERs. Later, they switched to an all-Boeing 737-800 fleet, and last year introduced 5 A330s, working hard to expand to their current scale. Their prices are significantly cheaper than JAL and ANA, and their service is good. I sincerely hope they can be rebuilt and rise from the ashes. For example, the day after Skymark withdrew from the Naha-Miyakojima route last year, those two competitors doubled their fares. For consumers, the existence of a small company like Skymark is truly valuable.

I have flown on their routes before and introduced their aircraft in my notes on Nagasaki Airport (RJFU) and Kobe Airport.

Today, I received another piece of news: due to low load factors, all 5 of the company’s A330 passenger aircraft will be grounded starting February 1st. This truly adds insult to injury. I searched through my photos on Flickr and found, fortunately, that I have a few records. I’ll post them here as a tribute.

After all, after February, we won’t be able to see them anymore…

JA330A

JA330B

JA330D