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Atlas Air is an American cargo airline based in Purchase, New York, United States. It operates scheduled freight flights on an ACMI contract basis for some of the world's leading airlines, flying to 101 cities in 46 countries.^[1] Its crew bases include: Miami International Airport, New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Anchorage International Airport and London Stansted Airport.

Atlas Air Boeing 747-200

The airline was founded in April 1992 by the late Pakistani American aerospace enthusiast Michael Chowdry, to specialise in the long-term contract outsourcing of its Boeing 747 aircraft. It started operations in 1993 with one Boeing 747 and contracted by China Airlines. In 1995 they began trading publicly on the NASDAQ, and in 1997 appeared on the New York Stock Exchange. An initial public offering of 4 million shares was made in August 1998. In 2001 the airline introduced a new program of leasing and services, based on the ACMI (Aircraft-Crew-Maintenance-insurance) model. Under this new program, Atlas Air cargo planes would be available to other airlines for operations such as charter flights. In July 2004 Atlas Air completed its restructuring plan and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.^[1] Recently, AAWWH announced that DHL has bought long term rights to carry some of its cargo on Polar's aircraft.

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAWW) wholly owns Atlas Air,^[1] Polar Air Cargo, and a share of Global Supply Systems (49%).

The airline was named after the famous Greek God Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders. Their symbol on the plane's tail is a gold man carrying a gold world.

Both Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo carry freight worldwide, including destinations throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Pacific, as well as the Americas. Specific destinations vary due to changing customer's needs and seasonal air cargo trends.

The Atlas Air fleet consists of the following aircraft as of March 2007:^{[citation needed]}

Orders: At list prices, the Boeing 747-8F order is valued at about $3.4 billion. Atlas will begin taking delivery of the airplanes in 2010 and expects all 12 aircraft to be in service by the end of 2011. "With this order, Atlas Air remains the leader in providing the capacity and operational flexibility required by our air cargo customers using the state-of-the art freighter platform," said William J. Flynn, president and CEO of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings.^{[citation needed]}

Atlas Air average fleet age is 18.4 years old in June 2006.^[2]

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Directory: World Airlines", Flight International, 2007-03-27, p. 80. 
2. ^ Atlas Air Fleet Age

• Atlas Air
• Atlas Air Fleet Detail