Independence Air Chooses AboveNet to Provide Scalable Private Optical Network to Support Rapid Growth

Airline to Utilize AboveNet’s Fiber Optic Metropolitan Network to Gain Competitive Advantage in the Marketplace

NEW YORK, March 09, 2004 – AboveNet, Inc., the leading provider of integrated access services to leading edge enterprises, announced today that it will provide a private fiber optic network to Independence Air. This network will support the company’s move toward becoming a national low-fare airline to be based out of Washington Dulles International Airport and with service to 50 destinations across the U.S.

AboveNet will create an optical network that is private, secure, and unshared. That network will connect more than 4,000 employees at two Independence Air offices in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. This highly scalable network will enable Independence Air to grow rapidly, manage mission-critical applications and share data more securely and cost-effectively than with traditional telecommunications services. In addition, Independence Air will now have access to an optical core with virtually unlimited capacity that allows the company to deploy new applications as the business shifts to compete with other low-cost airlines.

“As Independence Air moves toward our launch, we need a network infrastructure that can support rapid change, uncompromised security and flawless communications,” said Duffy Mees, vice president of Information Technology. “AboveNet’s metropolitan network provides the control and performance we need to meet our needs today, as well as a flexibility to scale our operations that isn’t available over the public switched network. We look forward to the benefits we will recognize from the network both immediately and well into the future.”

“Since 1989, Independence Air and its parent company Atlantic Coast Airlines have worked hard to develop impressive credentials such as a growing and dedicated employee base, a young fleet of jets and extensive operational experience in its market,” said Bill LaPerch, president and chief operating officer of AboveNet. “Now it also has a world-class network infrastructure to support these impressive credentials as well as the next phase of its business expansion. We’re extremely proud to have them as customers.”

About Independence Air
Independence Air will operate a daily schedule of more than 350 departures from Washington Dulles, making it the largest low-fare hub in the U.S. The company has a fleet of 144 aircraft—including a total of 120 regional jets—and firm orders for at least 25 Airbus 319s. The company employs approximately 4,100 aviation professionals.

About AboveNet, Inc.
AboveNet, Inc. the leading provider of integrated access services to leading edge enterprises. AboveNet builds and operates an office-to-office, 100-percent optical network enabling customers to create an efficient, cost-effective network that breaks economic and performance barriers imposed in the last mile by complex legacy telecom infrastructures. With the most extensive metropolitan optical network in the world, data centers throughout the US and Europe, top quality managed services and a high-performance IP network, AboveNet is able to offer the most flexible and complete information exchange solutions in the industry.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause or contribute to such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, and various other factors beyond the Company's control. This also includes such factors as are described from time to time in the SEC reports filed by Metromedia Fiber Network including the most recently filed Forms S-3, 10-K and 10-Q.