Atlas Air To Take Delivery of 747-400 Freighter; Used Immediately On China Southern Shenzhen-Chicago Cargo Route.

Business Editors

GOLDEN, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 2000

Atlas Air, Inc. (NYSE:CGO) will take delivery of its latest Boeing 747-400 freighter tomorrow at Paine Field in Everett, Washington.

Once delivered, the freighter is scheduled to go into immediate service with China Southern Airlines (NYSE:ZNH)(HKSE:1500), replacing the 747-200 freighter presently operating its Shenzhen-Chicago route.

China Southern Airlines, the largest airline in The People's Republic of China, selected the 747-400 in order to take advantage of its outstanding performance characteristics, including higher payloads, longer range, lower fuel burn and outstanding reliability. In this time of imbalance of demand, the 747-400 freighter provides the operational flexibility to maximize revenue, with its higher payload capability on the high demand sectors, while allowing for lower costs on low demand sectors as a result of improved fuel burn characteristics and ability to eliminate costly technical stops.

"Having the right product and service mix has been critical to our success," said Michael Chowdry, Chairman, CEO and President of Atlas Air, Inc. "Since we introduced the first -400 freighter into our fleet less than two years ago, the demand for this aircraft has been strong. We believe that this is due in large part to the operational efficiencies and flexibility of the 747-400."

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