Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. Reports November Traffic

 CHEYENNE, Wyo., Dec. 16 -- Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. today announced preliminary passenger traffic results for the month of November.

Scheduled service generated 9,370,000 revenue passenger miles (RPM's), a 17.5 percent decrease from the same month last year. Available seat miles (ASM's) increased 3.2 percent to 28,686,000. As a result, load factor decreased 8.2 points to 32.7 percent. Passengers carried decreased 22.8 percent compared to November 2001 to 34,555.

For the eleven months ending November 30, 2002 compared to the same eleven month period in 2001, revenue passenger miles (RPM's) decreased 34.8 percent to 123,556,000 while available seat miles (ASM's) decreased 17.6 percent to 329,460,000, resulting in a load factor of 37.5 percent for the year 2002 compared to 47.4 percent for the same eleven month period in 2001. The company carried 464,762 revenue passengers for the eleven month period ending November 30, 2002, a 39.5 percent decrease on a year over year basis.

November year over year comparisons were impacted by the last half of the Thanksgiving Holiday travel having been provided in early December. The company also experienced lower traffic levels in early November due to weather and customer travel deferral surrounding Election Day.

                     NOVEMBER AND YEAR TO DATE STATISTICS

                              November 2002   November 2001      Change
     Passengers Enplaned         34,555          44,755          - 22.8%
     Revenue Passenger Miles
      (000)                       9,370          11,363          - 17.5%
     Available Seat Miles
      (000)                      28,686          27,773            3.2%
     Load Factor                  32.7%           40.9%          - 8.2 points

                                YTD 2002        YTD 2001         Change
     Passengers Enplaned        464,762         768,088          - 39.5%
    Revenue Passenger Miles
      (000)                     123,556         189,524          - 34.8%
     Available Seat Miles
      (000)                     329,460         399,728          - 17.6%
     Load Factor                  37.5%           47.4%          - 9.9 points


 

As of December 1, 2002, scheduled passenger service was being provided at 47 airports in fifteen states with a fleet of Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and Raytheon/Beech 1900D regional airliners. A total of 212 weekday flights are scheduled at four hubs, with 172 flights at Denver, 20 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.