The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will tighten its checks of Skymark Airlines. The airline had operated a Boeing 767-300 (JA767E) for about nine months past its repairs deadline. A dent 6 centimeters long, 1.5 cm wide and 1 millimeter deep under a front door on the right side of the plane was found during maintenance at a Taiwan airport in June 2004 when it was being operated by a Brunei airline. A Taiwanese maintenance company put a plate over the dent to repair it under the instructions of Boeing, which said more repairs needed to be done in a year. The 767 was bought by Skymark, and operated apparently without being aware of the deadline. In a statement, Skymark acknowledged there was such a document but blamed the failure to meet the repair deadline on insufficient liaison between it and the Taiwan maintenance firm. (Kyodo)