=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2004/01/30/f= inancial2043EST0354.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, January 30, 2004 (AP) ATA completes deal to ease cash crunch MARK JEWELL, AP Business Writer (01-30) 17:43 PST INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The parent company of ATA Airlines Inc. reached agreement with bondholde= rs Friday, buying itself more time to repay debt and ease a cash crunch that threatened to bankrupt the nation's 10th largest carrier. ATA Holdings Corp. said it had met conditions for completing a bond exchange offer. The conditions included gaining satisfactory consent from bondholders and completing amendments for leasing Boeing 737s and 757s that ATA had ordered before the Sept. 11 attacks. ATA also said it had won approval from the federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board, which guarantees loans to airlines. The low-fare carrier had faced the prospect of paying off $300 million in debt over two years while making aircraft lease payments. Friday's announcement "will certainly give ATA a lot of breathing room to recover from the last couple years of industry difficulties," said Richard Bittenbender, an airline analyst at Moody's Investors Service. ATA shares closed up 41 cents, or 3.3 percent, at $12.84 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Indianapolis-based ATA said last summer that it could not meet debt obligations unless it won more time to repay bondholders. The airline warned of a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing unless it secured new repayment terms. Under the bond swap, ATA has more time to repay $175 million in bond not= es originally due in August and $125 million in notes that were due next year. In exchange for stretching out the repayments, bondholders receive more favorable interest and cash consideration terms. ATA made its initial bond exchange offer Aug. 29, but was forced to revi= se the terms and extend the offer's deadline several times after failing to win enough bondholder support. In October, ATA reported a third-quarter profit of $6.6 million -- the carrier's second consecutive quarterly profit following four straight quarters of losses totaling $185 million. It is scheduled to announce fourth-quarter earnings Monday. ATA is North America's largest operator of charter flights, including those for the military. It is the nation's 10th-largest carrier based on revenue passenger miles -- a measure of the number of paying customers who travel one mile. The 30-year-old carrier operates hubs for its scheduled service at Chicago's Midway Airport and Indianapolis International Airport. It has 7,200 employees. On the Net: American Trans Air: www.ata.com =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP