Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. Reports July Traffic

CHEYENNE, Wyo., Aug. 7 -- Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. (Nasdaq: GLUX - News) today announced preliminary passenger traffic results for the month of July.

Scheduled service generated 12,890,000 revenue passenger miles (RPM's), a 41.5 percent decrease from the same month last year. Available seat miles (ASM's) decreased 22.5 percent to 31,342,000. As a result, load factor decreased 13.3 points to 41.1 percent. Passengers carried decreased 45.2 percent compared to July 2001 to 48,036.

For the seven months ending July 31, 2002 compared to the same seven month period in 2001, revenue passenger miles (RPM's) decreased 41.3 percent to 78,548,000 while available seat miles (ASM's) decreased 23.8 percent to 206,523,000, resulting in a load factor of 38.0 percent for the year 2002 compared to 49.4 percent for the same seven month period in 2001. The company carried 297,120 revenue passenger for the seven month period ending July 31, 2002, a 45.7 percent decrease on a year over year basis.

Traffic reflects reductions and restructuring of the company's scheduled capacity made following the events of September 11, 2001 with emphasis placed on subsidized Essential Air Service markets.

                       JULY AND YEAR TO DATE STATISTICS
                                      July 2002    July 2001    Change
     Passengers Enplaned              48,036       87,589       -45.2%
     Revenue Passenger Miles (000)    12,890       22,032       -41.5%
     Available Seat Miles (000)       31,342       40,467       -22.5%
     Load Factor                      41.1%        54.4%        -13.3 points
                                      YTD 2002     YTD 2001     Change
     Passengers Enplaned              297,120      547,569      -45.7%
     Revenue Passenger Miles (000)    78,548       133,745      -41.3%
     Available Seat Miles (000)       206,523      270,957      -23.8%
     Load Factor                      38.0%        49.4%        -11.4 points

As of July 15, 2002, scheduled service was being provided at 48 airports in fifteen states with a fleet of Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and Raytheon/Beech 1900D regional airliners. A total of 220 weekday flights are scheduled at four hubs, with 176 flights at Denver, 24 flights at Chicago - O'Hare International Airport, 14 flights at Minneapolis/St. Paul, and 6 flights at Phoenix. All scheduled flights are operated under the Great Lakes Airlines marketing identity in conjunction with code-share agreements with United Airlines and Frontier Airlines.