Thursday, October 12, 2006 --   Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (AAWW) (Nasdaq: AAWW), a leading provider of global air cargo services, has begun distribution of 396,625 shares of AAWW's new common stock to holders of allowed general unsecured claims against AAWW and certain of its subsidiaries pursuant to the terms of a Joint Plan of Reorganization under which AAWW and the subsidiaries emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 27, 2004.

The current issuance of shares under the Plan follows an initial pro rata distribution of 16,095,776 shares of new common stock of AAWW to holders of allowed general unsecured claims in July 2005 and subsequent interim distributions to eligible claimholders of 40,940 shares in October 2005, 7,493 shares in January 2006, and 40,824 shares in April 2006.

Distributions from the remaining 621,008 shares of new common stock reserved for issuance to holders of allowed general unsecured claims by the Plan will take place on a periodic basis.

Altogether, the Plan allocates a total of 17,202,666 shares of AAWW's new common stock to holders of allowed general unsecured claims against the bankruptcy estates of AAWW, Atlas Air, Inc., Airline Acquisition Corp I, and Atlas Worldwide Aviation Logistics, Inc.

Under the Plan, these shares will be issued to holders of allowed claims in the same proportion as each holder's allowed claim bears to the total amount of allowed claims. The exact number of shares that each claimholder ultimately receives pursuant to the Plan is dependent on the final total of allowed claims and other factors, such as unclaimed distributions and fractional share interests.

Should any distribution of new common stock result in a claimholder being entitled to the receipt of a fractional share, AAWW's disbursing agent will retain the fractional share until a distribution would result in a whole number of shares being distributed to the claimholder on the next applicable distribution date.

For purposes of a final share distribution under the Plan, fractions of new common stock will not be issued. Instead, fractions of new common stock will be rounded up or down to the nearest whole number, with fractions equal to or less than 0.5 of a share rounded down. Any remaining undistributed shares on the final distribution date will be released from AAWW's new common stock reserve and become authorized, unissued common stock of AAWW.

Claimholders seeking additional information regarding the number of shares distributed to them may refer to the following Web address: http://www.atlasreorg.com/stockdistributionlist.html.

As of September 30, 2006, $607.0 million of general unsecured claims against AAWW and the named subsidiaries had been allowed and claims of $22.7 million remained in dispute. The latter figure, however, has been and continues to be reduced by virtue of the ongoing claims reconciliation process.

Following the current distribution of shares to holders of allowed unsecured claims, the remaining balance of shares of new common stock authorized for issuance under the Plan will be reserved for issuance to holders of disputed general unsecured claims against the bankruptcy estates of AAWW and the named subsidiaries, in the event such disputed claims are subsequently determined to be allowed claims.

To the extent that any such disputed claims become disallowed claims, the shares of new common stock reserved for issuance to the holders of such disputed claims will be distributed pro rata to holders of allowed general unsecured claims previously receiving shares of new common stock.

Including the current distribution, AAWW will have a total of approximately 20.5 million shares of common stock outstanding.

About Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc.:

AAWW is the parent company of Atlas Air, Inc. (Atlas) and Polar Air Cargo, Inc. (Polar), which together operate the world's largest fleet of Boeing 747 freighter aircraft.

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