The ongoing saga of budget airline Skymark’s cancelled airline order with Airbus could be coming to an end.
News reports suggest the two companies are close to an agreement in principle and Skymark, Japan’s third largest airline may only have to forfeit the 26.5 billion yen advance payment it had already made for the order of six Airbus 380 superjumbos.
Airbus had earlier said it would demand up to 70 billion yen from Skymark for cancelling the order.
Skymark wanted to renegotiate the order at the 11th hour, and effectively cancelled it in June, shortly before the first aircraft was to be delivered.
The carrier said it no longer had the finances to complete the original order.
After the aircraft maker demanded compensation for the last minute cancellation, Skymark released a statement saying there was ‘material uncertainty’ on it remaining in business.
Skymark’s chief executive Shinichi Nishikubo met last month with Airbus officials and are close to reaching a final agreement.
"What we have agreed is that we’re going to resolve the problems by the end of October," everything is currently under negotiation," the airline said.
Skymark shares rose 15% on the unconfirmed news to its highest level since mid-August.
