Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, reached a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) regarding accusations of inaccurate financial reporting from 2000 to 2002, agreeing to make no future misleading financial statements while paying no penalty for alleged transgressions that took place under previous management.

US SEC said AAWW failed to "report accurately its financial results, maintain requisite accounting records and implement adequate internal accounting controls" in fiscal years 2000, 2001 and the first half of FY02.

In a statement issued on April 3, Atlas pointed out that "none of the present board of directors or members of senior management was a focus of the investigation" and said it had reached a settlement with US SEC "without admitting or denying the findings" by agreeing to "cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of federal securities laws and regulations."

US SEC said in an order issued last week that AAWW had undertaken "remedial acts" to improve its financial reporting and cooperated with the investigation, leading the agency to end its inquiry. AAWW President and CEO William Flynn said, "Going forward we are committed to the highest level of integrity in our financial reporting."

Separately, the company named Michael Steen, a veteran of Exel and KLM Cargo, as senior VP and CMO. It also promoted Jason Grant to senior VP-network planning and business development. A member of AAWW's executive team since 2002, Grant last year served as VP-continuous improvement.