Japanese Airline Had Wanted To Restructure The Contract

An order for six A380 aircraft for Japan's Skymark Airlines has been stricken from Airbus' order book after the airline asked for a revised contract for the planes.

The negotiations have reportedly been going on since 2011, according to a report from the BBC, but Airbus did not provide details of the talks.

Skymark said it felt it was being overcharged for the superjumbo airliners, and had wanted to either reduce the number it had on order, or shift the positions to smaller airplanes. Skymark president Shinichi Nishikubo told reporters that the planemaker "would charge overpriced breakup fees for cancelling the purchase of A380s if our company decides to cancel," according to the report.

Reuters reports that Airbus broke up with Skymark by fax a week ago Sunday. The tersely-worded document said that in light of the a discussions, Airbus has "notified Skymark airlines that the purchase order for the six A380s signed in 2011 has been terminated."

Airbus reportedly was looking to the Skymark deal to win some market share in Japan from Boeing.

FMI: www.airbus.com