WLDAE World Air Holdings (MM)

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- World Air Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDAE), parent company of World Airways and North American Airlines, has named Jeff Wehrenberg as chief operating officer of North American Airlines effective Feb. 1, 2006. He will replace Steve Harfst, who is leaving the company for another business opportunity. Wehrenberg, a 26-year veteran of the airline industry, has extensive executive leadership experience. He currently serves as president of New Heights Aviation Services, LLC and has been working with World Airways in a consulting capacity since August 2005. Prior to this he held positions of president and chief operating officer at Chicago Express Airlines (ATA Connection) and senior vice president of Operations and chief operating officer for Tran Meridian Airlines. Wehrenberg also served as vice president - Ground Operations for Mesaba Aviation (Northwest Airlink), and vice president - Customer Service at Express Airlines I (Northwest Airlink). "Jeff Wehrenberg's leadership experience in the airline industry will be extremely valuable as we move forward with our plans for North American Airlines," said Jeff MacKinney, World Air Holdings president. "We also thank Steve Harfst for his leadership during the transition period following our acquisition of North American, and we wish him well in his new endeavors." North American Airlines is a U.S.-certificated air carrier offering air transportation services throughout the world for the U.S. military and commercial customers. Founded in 1989, North American is based in Jamaica, N.Y., and operates a fleet of eight passenger aircraft in charter and scheduled service. For information, visit http://www.northamericanair.com/. World Air Holdings, Inc., based in Peachtree City, Ga., has three wholly owned subsidiaries, World Airways, Inc., North American Airlines, Inc., and World Risk Solutions, Ltd. For information, visit http://www.worldairholdings.com/. ["Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the impact of competition in the market for air transportation services, the cyclical nature of the air carrier business, reliance on key marketing relationships, fluctuations in operating results and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's periodic reports filed with the SEC (reports are available from the company upon request). These various risks and uncertainties may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any of the forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of the company in this release.] First Call Analyst: FCMN Contact: sforsyth@wlda.com DATASOURCE: World Air Holdings, Inc. CONTACT: Media, Steve Forsyth, +1-770-632-8322, or Investors, Janice Kuntz, +1-404-352-2841, both of World Air Holdings, Inc. Web site: http://www.worldairways.com/ http://www.northamericanair.com/

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