Atlas Air Reports Earnings for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 1997.

GOLDEN, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 11, 1998--Atlas Air Inc. (NYSE:CGO) today reported net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 1997 of $9.1 million, or $.41 per share, the second best such quarter in its history. Operating income for the quarter was $27.8 million and revenues were $120.9 million.

That compares to net income of $13.4 million, or $.60 per share, for the fourth quarter of 1996. Operating income for such quarter wasOperating income for 1997 was $83.1 million, exclu ding special items, which represented a 21% margin, as compared to $88.1 million in operating income for 1996. Revenues on for the prior year.

Richard Shuyler, seket was extremely strong during the quarter and our customers flew at all-time record levels. This was reflected in the 22,333 block hours produced in the quarter, which rvice.

"More importantly, the healthy cargo market has continued into the first quarter and shows everyers."

Michael A. Chowdry, Atlas Air's president and chief executive officer, said: "The strength of our fourth quarter earnings has fully set the stage for 1998. Thcessfully resolved. All five of the Federal Express aircraft were returned at year-end, removing the major negative factor that had been affecting our financial performanargo market has continued undaunted.

"Alstation now is that the four new aircraft we havetly enter service, will be very favorable additions to our fleet. Indeed, our view of the marketplace is sufficiently positive that we have just reached agreement with Boe fourth quarter this year. All in all, we are (EETC's) that will provide permanent financing for all five of the new Boeing 747-400 aircraft to be delivered to Atlas in 1998. The transaction, priced at a blended rate of approximately 7.5%, closed on Feb. 9th.

Atlas Air is a United States certificated air carrier that operates a fleet of 747 freighters under long-term ACMI contracts. These contracts include the provision by Atlas of Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance for some of the world's leading air carriers, including British Airways, China Airlines, Emirates, Fast Air, KLM, LAS, Lufthansa, SAS, and Thai International Airways, serving a total of 62 cities in 38 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; the ability to manage the introduction of new fleet typeslimited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 1996 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended Sept. 30, 1997.

                                               Atlas Air trad  Full Year

                                                 27.8     29.9     83.1(a)   88.1

Pre-Tax Income                     14.4     21.4     37.6(a)   59.6

Net Income                          9.1     13.4     23.4      37.8

Basic Earnings Per Share        $   .41   $  .60  $  1.04   $  1.76

Weighted Average          verage Shares
 Outstanding (Thousands)         22,572   22,629   22,585    21,779

Total Block Hours                22,333   18,803   75,254    59,445


(a) Excluding Non-Recurring Charges and Extraordinary Item

-n The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet

with Hyperlinks to your home page.

URL: http://www.businesswire.com