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                                                                  Exhibit (a)(2)



NEWS RELEASE                                    [Howmet International Inc. Logo]

For:
         HOWMET INTERNATIONAL INC.
         475 Steamboat Road
         Greenwich, CT 06830-7144
         Contact:  Roland Paul
                         203-625-8770 Tel


Release date:  1 May 2000

         HOWMET INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS COMMITTEE REJECTS ALCOA $20 OFFER

Greenwich, Connecticut - Howmet International Inc. (NYSE:HWM) (www.howmet.com)
announced today that its Independent Directors Committee has determined that
Alcoa Inc.'s tender offer commenced on April 18, 2000 to acquire shares of
Howmet for $20 per share is inadequate and not in the best interests of Howmet's
public shareholders. Howmet's Schedule 14D-9, being filed today, will include
the recommendation of the Independent Directors Committee, on behalf of Howmet,
that Howmet shareholders reject Alcoa's offer and not tender their shares to
Alcoa.

Alcoa's tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding Howmet shares is
conditioned, among other things, on (1) the tender of a majority of the publicly
held Howmet shares and (2) Alcoa's purchase of Cordant Technologies Inc. shares
in its separate tender offer for that company. Cordant Technologies Inc. owns
84.6 percent of the outstanding shares of Howmet International common stock.

Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, Howmet is the world's largest
manufacturer of precision castings, primarily for jet aircraft and industrial
gas turbine engines. Howmet and its subsidiaries operate 29 production
facilities in the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Japan.