Skymark Airlines

Is Skymark safe?

Yes. Skymark has carried passengers on Japanese domestic routes since 1998 without a fatal accident or the loss of an aircraft, and it answers to one of the strictest aviation regulators in the world. We score it 84. That is below Peach and All Nippon Airways (both 87), and the reason is not crashes. Since 2018 Japan's transport ministry has acted against Skymark four times because pilots and mechanics broke the alcohol rules, once with faked records.

What has gone wrong at Skymark?

The Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) lists three Skymark accidents in the last 20 years. None was fatal.

• Haneda, November 2007. During the landing roll of a Boeing 767 from Kobe, two half-size galley carts shot forward down the aisle. One hit a passenger's leg and broke the ankle. The JTSB found the cart brakes had not been set and the retainers were not locked, and said cabin checks required by company rules had not been followed. Skymark no longer flies the 767.
• Haneda, August 2020. A 737-800 bound for Fukuoka hit a bird at about 8,500 feet after take-off. The flight continued to Fukuoka, where damage to the skin and inner structure of the forward fuselage was found.
• New Chitose, November 2025. Lightning struck a 737-800 on approach to Sapporo at about 12,000 feet and left holes in the forward fuselage. The aircraft landed safely with 183 people on board. The civil aviation bureau classed it as an accident, and the JTSB investigation is still open.

The bird and lightning strikes say little about how Skymark runs the airline. The 2007 cart accident does, and it is old. The one serious incident of the last ten years, at Haneda in June 2019, was not Skymark's fault: tower controllers cleared an ANA 787 to cross the runway while a Skymark 737 was landing, and the JTSB put it on a supervisor and a trainee controller.

Why the alcohol cases matter

Japan treats alcohol before duty as a serious safety breach, and Skymark has had more than one case:

The 2023 Nagasaki case is the most serious. Skymark reported to MLIT that the mechanic got staff to confirm a test that never happened, and that he signed off some checks, such as tyre pressures, without properly confirming them. Along with the recommendation, the regulator warned the airline's safety manager and asked for a rebuild of its safety management system. Nobody was hurt, but faked records undermine a basic safeguard. A further case only months later suggested the fixes took time to take hold. We found no new MLIT action against Skymark since September 2023.

Japan Airlines has had similar cases, and the regulator's public action is one reason Japanese airlines report them at all.

What does Skymark fly?

Only Boeing 737s, with 177 seats in one class. Skymark had 29 737-800s in fiscal 2025; some were built in 2009, and Skymark does not publish an average age. The 737-800 is a proven type but an older generation without fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary controls, which is why the fleet scores below Peach's Airbus fleet.

That is changing. Skymark took the first Boeing 737 MAX delivered to a Japanese airline in April 2026, a leased 737-8, and began flying it from Haneda to Fukuoka on 28 May. It has 13 737-8s and seven longer 737-10s coming, and plans 32 aircraft in fiscal 2026. Six of the 737-8s are leased; the bought aircraft arrive from fiscal 2027 and 2030.

Who oversees Skymark?

Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau, part of MLIT, which holds FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary. The JTSB investigates and publishes full reports, as the lightning case shows. Skymark is not an IATA member, so we could not confirm an IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit, and we score oversight the same as Peach, a little below JAL and ANA.

How to fly Skymark safely

Skymark's network is domestic: Haneda, Kobe, Fukuoka, Naha, New Chitose and a number of smaller airports. Winter storms over the Sea of Japan bring lightning and snow at Sapporo, and typhoons close Okinawa airports between about June and October, so check Skymark's flight status page before leaving for the airport on a stormy day. On landing, stay seated with the belt fastened until the aircraft stops at the gate; the 2007 injury happened during the landing roll.

How we scored it

The accident record (93) is clean of deaths and lost aircraft over 28 years. Oversight (86) reflects Japan's strong regulator without confirmed IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary. The fleet (74) is a single older type that is now being replaced. Serious incidents (68) are the weakest factor because of the four MLIT actions on alcohol rules. Environment scores 86. Overall 84.