Air China Leases Freighter From Atlas Air.

Business Editors

PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 29, 2000

Atlas Air, Inc. announced today that it has signed its first contract with Air China for Boeing 747 freighter service.

Under the terms of this contract, Atlas Air will provide the Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) to Air China. This is the third airline from the People's Republic of China that has entered into an ACMI with Atlas Air this year.

"China is clearly the new frontier for air freight in the Asia-Pacific region -- and when the country joins the World Trade Organization as expected, it will trigger an even stronger surge in east and westbound trade," said Michael A. Chowdry, Chairman, CEO and President of Atlas Air, Inc.

Chowdry said a just-released study by Credit Lyonnais Securities (Asia) Ltd. found that Chinese airfreight traffic grew more than 20% in the first four months of 2000, compared with 18.5% in the past 10 years. Airfreight demand for China is expected to reach 2.7 million tons by 2004, up 60% from 1.7 million tons in 1999. Chinese goods exported by air, including via Hong Kong, will expand by 10% annually in the next five years while imports are forecasted to grow 11%.

"This translates into a strong demand for air freighter capacity and Atlas Air has a solid, growing presence in the market," Chowdry noted. "We are grateful that Air China, the largest operator within the People's Republic of China, in positioning itself to take advantage of this expanding market has recognized the benefit of contracting with Atlas Air for outsource freighter capacity."

Air China operates passenger and cargo services, special chartered flights and also general aviation. It ranks among the 500 biggest service companies in China and operates a fleet of 62 airplanes, including three B747-200F.

Atlas Air is a United States certificated air carrier that operates a fleet of Stage 3 compliant B747 freighters under ACMI contracts. These contracts include the provision by Atlas Air of the Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance for many of the world's leading international carriers. Atlas Air operates flights to 101 cities in 46 countries.

To the extent that any of the statements contained herein relating to the Company's expectations, assumptions and other Company matters are forward-looking, they are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of uncertainties and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, risks associated with: worldwide business and economic conditions; product demand and the rate of growth in the air cargo industry; the impact of competitors and competitive aircraft and aircraft financing availability; the ability to attract and retain new and existing customers; normalized aircraft operating costs and reliability; management of growth; the continued productivity of its workforce; dependence on key personnel; and regulatory matters. For additional information regarding these and other risk factors, reference is made to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2000.