# Michael Chowdry

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{{short description|Pakistani-American businessman}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = 
| name               = Michael Chowdry
| honorific_suffix   = 
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| birth_name         = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date         = 1954
| birth_place        = [Dominion of Pakistan](/source/Dominion_of_Pakistan)
| death_date         = January 24, 2001
| death_place        = [Watkins, Colorado](/source/Watkins%2C_Colorado), U.S.
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| education          = 
| alma_mater         = [University of Minnesota Crookston](/source/University_of_Minnesota_Crookston)
| occupation         = Businessman, pilot
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| employer           = 
| organization       = [Atlas Air](/source/Atlas_Air)
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| spouse             = [Linda Chowdry](/source/Linda_Chowdry)
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| relatives          = Chowdry Ghais Akbar Buttar (father)
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}}
'''Michael A. Chowdry''' (1954 – January 24, 2001) was a [Pakistani-American](/source/Pakistani_American) businessman who became the founder of American-based cargo carrier [Atlas Air](/source/Atlas_Air) in 1992. He was on the [Forbes 400](/source/Forbes_400) list with a net worth of $920 million, ranked among the richest American businessmen of Pakistani heritage before his death in a plane crash in 2001.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

==Early life and education==
Born in [Pakistan](/source/Pakistan) in a Muslim Punjabi family, Chowdry emigrated to [England](/source/England) aged 15. He was a son of Chowdry Ghais Akbar Buttar, a retired army officer and grandson of Chowdry Mohammad Akbar Buttar; a government bureaucrat. In 1976, he moved to the United States where he graduated from the [University of Minnesota Crookston](/source/University_of_Minnesota_Crookston) in 1978 with a degree in Agricultural Aviation. He started his aviation career flying crop dusters and selling Piper airplanes to cover his college tuition.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} He gave flying lessons to farmers, and also worked under a government contract flying Native Americans to the [Mayo Clinic](/source/Mayo_Clinic) from reservations in the Midwest.<ref name="1-2"/>

==Career==
Chowdry expanded his business into buying and selling landing rights at constrained airports in the early 1980s. In 1984, he started a company named Aeronautics Leasing, which leased passenger airplanes to major carriers such as [Pan American](/source/Pan_American_World_Airways), [British Airways](/source/British_Airways) and [Trans World Airlines](/source/Trans_World_Airlines). In 1992, Michael Chowdry founded [Atlas Air](/source/Atlas_Air) which is based in [Purchase, NY](/source/Purchase%2C_NY), valued around [$](/source/United_States_dollar) 1.39 billion, operates B747s in 46 countries and 101 cities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://airwaysmag.com/best-of-airways/atlas-air-cargo-charters-different-business-plan/|last=Manning |first=Michael|date=April 21, 2018|title=Best of Airways ~ Atlas Air: Cargo Charters a Different Business Plan|work=Airways|accessdate=May 25, 2019}}</ref> By 1993, Atlas Air was flying routes to Taipei and Europe, and the company went public in 1997.<ref name="1-2"/>

===Plane crash===
On January 24, 2001, Michael Chowdry died while flying his personal [Czech](/source/Czech_Republic)-made [Aero L-39 Albatros](/source/Aero_L-39_Albatros) jet trainer with Jeff Cole, aerospace editor of the ''[Wall Street Journal](/source/Wall_Street_Journal)''. The crash occurred in [Watkins, Colorado](/source/Watkins%2C_Colorado), killing both Chowdry and Cole.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Atlas Air CEO killed in crash - Jan. 24, 2001 |url=https://money.cnn.com/2001/01/24/news/atlas/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101035146/https://money.cnn.com/2001/01/24/news/atlas/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 1, 2024 |access-date=2024-01-01 |website=money.cnn.com}}</ref> He was survived by his wife and two children.<ref name="1-1">{{Cite web |title=Forbes Faces: Michael Chowdry |url=https://www.forbes.com/2001/01/25/0125faces.html |access-date=2025-09-19 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> His wife Linda in 2021 published the memoir ''No Man's Son - A Flight from Obscurity to Fame'' about her late husband.<ref name="1-2">[https://sanjuanislander.com/news-articles/people/32512/friday-harbor-author-shares-the-highs-and-lows-of-aviation-in-no-man-s-son "Friday Harbor Author Shares the Highs and Lows of Aviation in 'No Man's Son'"], San Juan Islander, 2001</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010630163058/http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/54/2000/LIR.jhtml?passListId=54%26passYear=2000%26passListType=Person%26uniqueId=2KNN%26datatype=Person Chowdry, Michael on Forbes 400]
* [https://onestop-crk-d9.prd.umn.edu/sites/onestop.crk.umn.edu/files/forms/Specialty%20Scholarship%20Descriptions.pdf Introducing the Michael A. Chowdry $5,000 Entrepreneurial Scholarships]
* [http://archives.californiaaviation.org/ganews/msg10118.html Californiaaviation.org]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdry, Michael}}
Category:1955 births
Category:2001 deaths
Category:American people of Punjabi descent
Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
Category:Pakistani expatriates in England
Category:Pakistani emigrants to the United States
Category:American businesspeople in transportation
Category:University of Minnesota Crookston alumni
Category:Accidental deaths in Colorado
Category:American billionaires
Category:Pakistani billionaires
Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2001
Category:Businesspeople from Lahore

{{Pakistan-business-bio-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Michael Chowdry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chowdry) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chowdry?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.