The following Bloomberg article seems to indicate that the lease is part of a long term strategy on the part of FedEx, rather than short term reaction to a threatened strike.
Golden, Colorado, Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Atlas Air Inc., which provides cargo transportation services to airlines, is today expected to announce an agreement, worth as much as $30 million, to fly three 747 jumbo jet planes for FDX Corp.'s Federal Express Corp., reported the Wall Street Journal Interactive Version, citing unnamed Atlas officials. The agreement is seen as part of FedEx's restructuring to reduce reliance on its own pilots and the contracting of services to Atlas is likely to add more flames to the current dispute between FedEx's management and its pilots, the WSJ said. Atlas, which provided one plane for FedEx in 1996 and another two for seasonal business last year, declined to say how long the latest contract would last, said the WSJ.
Atlas Air's profit margins are stable and high, and the company is well prepared for next year's planned Stage 3 noise regulations because its planes are already compliant with the new rules, Michael Shonstrom, analyst at Neidiger, Tucker, Bruner Inc., said earlier this week, reported Investor's Business Daily.
(Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition 11/12 www.wsj.com)
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