History
Skymark Airlines was established in 1996 as an open sky domestic airline after deregulation of the Japanese airline industry, and started operations on 19 September 1998.
Skymark acquired seven Boeing 767-200 and Boeing 767-300 widebody aircraft between 1998 and 2005. Certain 767 fuselages were painted in special "billboard" liveries advertising third party companies, including DirecTV, Yahoo Japan, Microsoft and USEN.
On 11 December 2003, Skymark 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.
Skymark began acquiring new Boeing 737-800 narrowbody aircraft in 2005, and eventually retired the 767 from its fleet in 2009.
Skymark 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.
On 8 November 2010 Skymark announced negotiations with Airbus for an order of four Airbus A380 aircraft and two options, which would make it the first Japanese airline to order the type. This order was confirmed as definite during February 2011. The airline intends to use the aircraft on a number of long-haul trunk routes out of Narita Airport, like London, Frankfurt, Paris or New York. Skymark intends to operate the A380s in a two-class, 394-seat configuration - with 114 seats in business class and 280 in a premium economy class. Business Class will be equipped with angled lie-flat seats at 60 in (1,500 mm) pitch and 20.7 in (530 mm) width, while "shell-style" seats at 38 in (970 mm) pitch and 20.5 in (520 mm) width will be offered in Premium Economy.
In June 2011, Skymark began providing award seats through the Delta Air Lines SkyMiles program.
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