ATA Promises to Lower Fares Out of Reagan Washington National Airport; Airline Seeks Nonstop Service To San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Business Editors & Travel/Airlines Writers

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2000

ATA (American Trans Air, Inc.), the principal operating subsidiary of Amtran, Inc. (Nasdaq/NM:AMTR), has filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for 10 slots to serve three city-pairs.

These include one daily nonstop roundtrip each to Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as three daily roundtrips to Chicago-Midway. This filing is in response to provisions in the Aviation and Investment Reform Act for the 21st Century, which authorized DOT to award a limited number of new slots at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

Two of the goals outlined in the new legislation are that these additional slots at Reagan Washington National Airport are to be awarded to the carrier that will "produce the maximum competitive benefits, including low fares ... ." and "... increase competition by new entrant carriers or in multiple markets."

ATA, with its 27-year history of providing the most reliable service at the most competitive fares, is the only applicant uniquely positioned to fulfill these goals.

"ATA will offer this new service with Boeing 757 aircraft built on the west coast and configured for 216 seats. ATA will offer to the traveling public the greatest number of seats on each route, the lowest fares, and the greatest total fare savings," said ATA President and CEO John Tague.

"ATA, if awarded its request for slots, will bring the benefit of our low fares to more than 700,000 passengers traveling from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

"The annual fare savings for consumers will total $64 million, with one-way walkup fares from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Washington National Airport ranging from just $199-$562. Currently, the lowest one-way fare from Washington National to Los Angeles on American Airlines is $1,030, and still requires a 3-day advance purchase," said Tague.

"The intent of the Congress in creating these new slots at Reagan National was to grant these slots to a carrier with a successful track record, and which will provide lower fares from Washington, D.C. to destinations both inside and outside the current limit of 1,250 flight miles from DCA. ATA, with its 27-year history of providing safe and reliable service at the lowest costs in the industry, is clearly the best choice to fulfill the goals of this important legislation," added Tague.

"There is no question that ATA will become the market leader in Washington as it has in New York. ATA now carries more passengers per LaGuardia flight than any other carrier, due to the fact that ATA fares are 49% lower to Chicago and 60% lower to California than any of the major carriers serving those markets," said Bill McKnight, ATA's Executive Vice President for Marketing and Sales.

"Washington-area travelers to Chicago and the west coast have long had no choice but to pay the non-competitive fares of the major carriers. ATA plans to change all that."

ATA can point directly to its LaGuardia (LGA) service to demonstrate how successful ATA has been at penetrating slot-restricted markets against entrenched incumbent carriers, and how dramatically lower fares have played a major role in ATA's success in the LaGuardia market and elsewhere.

ATA's LGA to Chicago-Midway service and connecting fares from LGA to Los Angeles and San Francisco are 60% below the fares charged by other carriers on the same route. ATA has maintained this fare structure since it initiated its LaGuardia service in July of 1998.

Travelers from DCA will also benefit from ATA's recent order of 47 brand new aircraft from Boeing. The aircraft are scheduled to come on-line beginning in the summer of 2001. The order includes 37 Boeing 737-800s configured for 175 passengers and 10 Boeing 757-300 configured for 244 passengers. These new aircraft will replace ATA's fleet of 727s and enhance its current fleet of 757s.

Finally, ATA will link DCA passengers to 25 destinations ATA serves from its growing Midway hub. In addition, unlike other carriers serving DCA, ATA requires, at most, a three-day advance purchase; does not require a Saturday night stay; and offers one-way fares on the vast majority of its flights. This is in sharp contrast to the 14 to 21-day advance purchase and Saturday night stay and round-trip fare requirements of the other carriers.

Amtran employs nearly 7,000 people. The Company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol "AMTR." ATA, now in its 27th year of operation is the nation's 11th largest U.S passenger airline and is the largest operator of commercial and military passenger charters.

In addition, ATA operates significant scheduled service from Chicago-Midway and Indianapolis to 27 destinations. ATA operates a fleet of 54 aircraft, including 24 Boeing 727s, 11 Boeing 757s and 19 Lockheed L1011s, which is supported by the Company's own maintenance and engineering facilities in Indianapolis and Chicago-Midway, and maintenance support stations worldwide.

More information about ATA can be found at its Website at www.ata.com.