BayBum4Ever

Atlas Air Worldwide to Acquire Southern Air

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc 33 minutes ago GlobeNewswire

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• Strategically Compelling, Highly Complementary Business
• Immediately Accretive All-Cash Transaction; No Debt Being Assumed
• Expands Platform into 777 and 737 Aircraft Operations
• Drives Greater Diversification, Scale and Global Footprint

PURCHASE, N.Y., Jan. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (AAWW) today said that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Southern Air Holdings, Inc., a premier provider of intercontinental and domestic air cargo services, in an immediately accretive, all-cash, debt-free transaction valued at approximately $110 million. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and is expected to close in the next few months.



Southern Air is the parent company of Worldwide Air Logistics Group and its two operating subsidiaries, Southern Air, Inc. and Florida West International Airways, Inc.
“We are very pleased to announce a strategically compelling, highly complementary and immediately accretive acquisition of Southern Air,” said William J. Flynn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Atlas Air Worldwide. “And we are eager to capitalize on the substantial opportunities that the transaction will provide, especially 777 and 737 aircraft operations.
“The result will be a more diversified and profitable company offering access to the widest range of modern, efficient aircraft, together with a broader mix of services and a greater scale and global footprint that will drive significant value for our customers and shareholders.”
“We very much look forward to joining the Atlas Air family of companies,” said Daniel J. McHugh, Chief Executive Officer of Southern Air Holdings. “We share the same commitment to providing superior customer service via our exceptional team of aviation professionals. And Southern Air will now have a strong and viable parent to enable us to continue to grow.”

doverby

Ruh roh...

aviatorhi

The million dollar question will be whether Atlas merges the two or keeps them separate.

sandrich

My question exactly (and I'm a Southern guy) Atlas could have very well just bought their way into future 777 contracts, and hired 250 of their 800 pilot this year all at once...

aviatorhi

Would also explain why Southern told me TBNT.

doverby

This is going to **** off some Atlas pilots who've made the move from Southern recently.

sandrich

Anything could happen... The opposite happened to me. Last week I got the link for the test at Atlas but couldn't get a call for the interview. This might explain that.

NikeBuddy

Nobody is going to the street. We still need to staff those 10 airplanes your bringing. We couldn't spearhead this from the ground up if we tried right now. Part of the value of this transaction is that those 250 pilots are already trained and in place. Your jobs should be considered secure in my opinion. Now, how the group is integrated, etc will all have to be sorted. Bringing those already pre-signed narrow body rates you have over is certainly not going to help though. Yikes.

Treehorn

This is terrible news.

aviatorhi

I took that same test 5 months ago... and no call for an interview in all that time... I'm alluding to the fact that no matter what I do I'm more and more certain I will never see life at Atlas. It's too bad because they basically have the lifestyle I've been chasing for years, while also having stability and a good reputation.