| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JUNE 14, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INTERNATIONAL -- ASIAN COVER STORY
Hideo Sawada, Chairman, Skymark Airlines, Japan (int'l edition) HIDEO SAWADA LIKES TO BREAK DOWN MARKET BARRIERS. He first took on the cartel that made international air travel prohibitively expensive in 1980 after returning from studying in Europe. Buying seats in bulk, Sawada's H.I.S. group pioneered discount ticketing and is largely responsible for the quadrupling of international travel from Japan. Last year, H.I.S. earned $21 million on sales of $1.3 billion in 140 offices around the world. Encouraged by that success, Sawada is smashing Japan's other protected markets. His current target: domestic air travel. Last September, he launched Skymark Airlines, Japan's first new carrier in 35 years. ''If Richard Branson could do it with Virgin Atlantic in the U.K., it was time for someone to do it in Japan,'' says Sawada, who, unlike the puckish Englishman, is soft-spoken and easygoing. He has triggered a price war with Japan's three domestic carriers, including Japan Airlines Co. By charging just half the Big Three's $230 fare on his initial route from Tokyo to Fukuoka, Sawada forced the others to follow suit. Now he is doing the same on two new routes. ''It's a tough business because of all the regulations,'' says Sawada, who remains an avid traveler. ''But we're forcing change in the industry that will benefit consumers.'' A native of Osaka, traditionally Japan's center of commerce, Sawada grew up the son of a merchant. Although he didn't plan to follow in his father's footsteps, he found he had a knack for making money. While studying economics at Mainz University in Germany, he made enough playing the stock market to drop his studies and return home to go into business. Sawada is now targeting the Japanese securities business. In February, he purchased a 63% stake in the money-losing Kyoritsu Securities. In a matter of weeks, Sawada overhauled management, cut costs, and boosted sales 20%. After new financial reforms kick in, Sawada hopes to attract individual Japanese who have previously shunned the markets with new financial instruments, low commissions on trades, and even online trading. At 48, Sawada still has time to pursue other opportunities. ''It could be banking or energy, wherever deregulation is needed,'' he says. ''I figure I have another 10 to 15 years to go before I run out of ideas.'' That should be plenty of time to bust down a few more market barriers. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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