AAR Suspends Quarterly Common Stock Dividend

WOOD DALE, Ill., /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AAR (NYSE: AIR) announced today that its Board of Directors has suspended the Company's quarterly common stock dividend, at its regularly scheduled meeting on October 9. The Board of Directors will consider future dividends based upon improvement in the airline industry and the Company's financial performance.

Commenting on the change, AAR President and CEO David P. Storch said, "The Board suspended payment of dividends consistent with other actions taken by the Company to lower costs and preserve cash. Since September 1, we have reduced administrative and other overhead costs in excess of $8 million annually. This is in addition to other cost savings actions taken over the last twelve months. We remain extremely focused on cash generation and expect to continue to generate positive operating cash flow for the balance of the fiscal year."

Storch continued, "We are continuing to experience solid performance in our military business and are seeing an increase in major proposal requests from our airline customers. Although our financial results showed improvement for the first month of the second quarter versus the first month of the first quarter, we believe suspending the dividend is a prudent step at this time."

AAR is the leading provider of aftermarket support to the worldwide aviation/aerospace industry. Products and services include customized inventory management and logistics programs, encompassing supply, repair and manufacture of spare parts and systems. Headquartered in Wood Dale, Illinois, AAR serves commercial and government aircraft fleet operators and independent service customers throughout the world. Further information can be found at www.aarcorp.com.

This press release contains certain statements relating to future results, which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Please also refer to the forward looking statement disclaimer under Item 7, entitled "Factors Which May Affect Future Results", included in the Company's May 31, 2002 Form 10-K. By providing forward looking statements, the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

SOURCE AAR CORP.

CONTACT: Timothy J. Romenesko, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, of AAR, +1-630-227-2090, tromenesko@aarcorp.com