Press Release

Statement Regarding Gate Gourmet's Honolulu Flight Kitchen

Reston, VA, May 19, 2005 - In response to a media report on Thursday, May 19, 2005, Gate Gourmet issued the following statement regarding its Honolulu flight kitchen:

Gate Gourmet takes its food safety obligations very seriously. We work closely with local, state and federal regulatory agencies to make sure we are doing everything we should to comply with all applicable laws and with the high standards of quality our customers expect of us and that we set for ourselves.

As we did in response to both the unexplained illnesses last year and the FDA's inspection in February, we investigate such situations immediately and take corrective action as needed.

The company worked closely with the Health Department in its investigation of the 2004 occurrence. In fact, all 58 employees who were requested to do so by the Health Department were tested and results for all of them were negative. In the time since this incident, we have not observed any other occurrences, and we continue to work cooperatively with the Health Department.

As noted by the Hawaiian state epidemiologist, it was not possible to determine the cause of the August illnesses despite a coordinated investigation by the Hawaii Department of Health, the FDA, the National Institutes of Health, the company and our Honolulu employees, who voluntarily participated in the investigation.

Regarding the more recent FDA inspection, the company immediately took corrective steps, including a change in local top management, making repairs to equipment, conducting additional employee training, thoroughly cleaning and painting of our Honolulu facility, and hiring additional janitorial employees. As a result of these efforts, our Honolulu facility passed its most recent FDA inspection conducted this week.