imported>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: Removing from Category:American people of Pakistani descent using Cat-a-lot

2024-04-20T21:32:07Z

Removing from Category:American people of Pakistani descent using Cat-a-lot

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{{short description|Pakistani-American businessman}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Michael Chowdry
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| birth_date = 1954
| birth_place = [[Dominion of Pakistan]]
| death_date = January 24, 2001
| death_place = [[Watkins, Colorado]], U.S.
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| nationality = Pakistani, American
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| alma_mater = [[University of Minnesota Crookston]]
| occupation = Businessman, pilot
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| organization = [[Atlas Air]]
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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|Pakistani-American]] businessman who became the founder of American-based cargo carrier [[Atlas Air]] in 1992. He was on the [[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]] in a Muslim Punjabi family, Chowdry emigrated to [[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]] 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]] 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 World Airways|Pan American]], [[British Airways]] and [[Trans World Airlines]]. In 1992, Michael Chowdry founded [[Atlas Air]] which is based in [[Purchase, NY]], valued around [[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 Republic|Czech]]-made [[Aero L-39 Albatros]] jet trainer with Jeff Cole, aerospace editor of the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]''. The crash occurred in [[Watkins, 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 |access-date=2024-01-01 |website=money.cnn.com}}</ref> He was survived by his wife and four children.<ref name="1-1">[https://www.forbes.com/2001/01/25/0125faces.html "Forbes Faces: Michael Chowdry"], Forbes, 01-25-2001</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 transportation businesspeople]]
[[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}}

Michael Chowdry - Revision history

imported>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: Removing from Category:American people of Pakistani descent using Cat-a-lot