AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes has dismissed as “rubbish” a report that he is considering taking a stake in struggling Japanese carrier Skymark Airlines.
Shares in Skymark soared to a six-year high in Tokyo despite Fernandes dismissing the story on Twitter with the words: “Never seen such rubbish.”
Fernandes tweeted: “AirAsia has no interest in Skymark in Japan. There have been no discussions with Skymark.”
However, Bloomberg quoted “a person familiar with the matter” saying: “AirAsia is in discussions with financial institutions on ways to help Skymark.”
In a statement, AirAsia said: “We dismiss the speculation as just industry rumour.” Skymark also denied it had been approached by AirAsia.
Skymark is Japan’s third-largest air carrier but operates a purely domestic schedule from its base in Tokyo.
The airline had plans to begin services to London, New York, Paris and Frankfurt using six A380s on order from this year.
But Airbus terminated the order in July saying: “Skymark made clear that it was not going to perform its contractual obligations.”
Skymark said it had been in talks with Airbus about possible changes to its order. A sharp decline in the Japanese yen raised the cost of financing the A380s.
The carrier reported a loss of Yen1.8 billion (£10.4 million) in the year to March, but a profit the previous year.
AirAsia recently set up a joint venture with online retailer Rakuten to run a low-cost airline in Japan.
Skymark’s 36 slots at Tokyo’s Haneda airport could be the domestic carrier’s most valuable assets.